Sri Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government protest camp in the capital, evicting activists in a nighttime raid.

Troops and police Special Task Force commandos with batons and armed with automatic assault rifles raided the camp where protesters blocked the Presidential Secretariat.

Hundreds of soldiers removed the demonstrators' barricades outside the building, while the last remaining protesters on the premises were evicted.

This came hours before the country's new President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, swore in lawmaker Dinesh Gunawardena as the country's new Prime Minister to try to manage the financial crisis that has crippled the economy and triggered months of protests.

9 arrested,  2 injured

Wickremesinghe himself was elected by legislators on Wednesday to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore and resigned after demonstrators chased him from his palace.

The remaining protesters have been demanding Wickremesinghe also quit, accusing him of protecting the Rajapaksa regime which has dominated politics for much of the last two decades.

By morning, police commandos and soldiers armed with automatic assault rifles encircled the complex, and the main roads leading to the area remained blocked.

Hundreds of activists demonstrated at a nearby designated protest site against the authorities' actions, demanding Wickremesinghe's resignation and dissolving the parliament to allow for fresh elections, insisting they would continue their struggle.

"Police and security forces acted to clear protesters occupying the Presidential Secretariat, the main gate and the surroundings," police said in a statement. 

"Nine people were arrested. Two of them were injured," it added.

Using force against journalists

Amnesty International urged Sri Lankan authorities to respect the right to protest and condemned the use of force against journalists, including a BBC photographer, covering the military action.

The overnight raid came after Wickremesinghe's swearing-in, and it was condemned by the head of the influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Saliya Peiris, who warned it would hurt the new government's international image.

"Unnecessary use of brute force will not help this country and its international image," Peiris pointed out in a brief statement, adding that a lawyer was among those arrested.

Wickremesinghe warned protesters

Wickremesinghe has pledged to set up a unity government to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.

A foreign exchange crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and exacerbated by mismanagement has left Sri Lanka suffering lengthy power blackouts and record-high inflation.

The country's 22 million people have also endured months of food, fuel, and medicine shortages.

The cabinet is scheduled to be sworn in later Friday and is expected to include opposition legislators.

After Rajapaksa stepped down, six-time Prime minister Wickremesinghe took over the leadership temporarily, until he was confirmed as the new President on Wednesday.

Wickremesinghe had warned protesters that occupying state buildings was illegal and that they would be evicted unless they left on their own.

The day Rajapaksa was forced to flee, protesters also set fire to Wickremesinghe's private home in the capital.

"If you try to topple the government, occupy the president's office and the prime minister's office, that is not democracy, it is against the law," he claimed.

Sweeping powers

Wickremesinghe has also declared a state of emergency that gives sweeping powers to armed forces and allows police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without being charged.

Protesters have accused Wickremesinghe of being a proxy of the former president's powerful family - a charge he has denied.

"I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas," he told reporters at the Gangaramaya temple. "I am a friend of the people," the new Prime Minister claimed.