Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters storm official residence

Colombo, Sri Lanka:  Sri Lanka’s beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo Saturday, a top defence source told AFP, before protesters gathered to demand his resignation stormed the compound.

BREAKING 🇱🇰 : Sri Lankan Protestors stormed President's Official residence

♦️President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reportedly not at the official residence and his whereabouts are unknown.#SriLanka #අරගලයටජය #GoHomeGota #President #Protest pic.twitter.com/FhgZA1Pjdu

— Bhoopendra Singh 🇮🇳 (@bhoopendratv007) July 9, 2022

“The president was escorted to safety,” the source said, adding that troops fired in the air to prevent angry crowds from overrunning the President’s Palace. Sirasa TV, a private broadcaster, showed crowds entering the once tightly-guarded residence. Following the development, Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe – who is also facing calls of resignation along with Gotabaya Rajapaksa – has called for an emergency meeting. Sri Lanka has suffered through months of food and fuel shortages, lengthy blackouts and galloping inflation after running out of foreign currency to import vital goods. Huge crowds had poured into the capital for the demonstration, the latest expression of unrest sparked by the island nation’s unprecedented economic crisis. Police had withdrawn a curfew order issued on Friday after opposition parties, rights activists and the bar association threatened to sue the police chief. Thousands of anti-government protesters ignored the stay-home order and even forced railway authorities to operate trains to take them to Colombo for Saturday’s rally, officials said. With input from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.