Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters storm his residence, PM Wickremesinghe offers to resign

Biznextindia : Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled to a undisclosed location after thousands of protesters in capital Colombo broke through police barricades and stormed the Presidential palace on Saturday in one of the largest anti-government marches in the crisis-hit country this year, according to Sri Lankan media.

Some protesters, holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets, broke into the president’s residence, video footage from local TV news NewsFirst channel showed.

After the lifting of the illegal curfew imposed last night to prevent the people joining the protest, crowds from outskirts have reached “Gota Go Village” struggle ground at the Galle Face green, according to a report by ‘the Colombo Page’.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told the party leaders that he is willing to resign and make way for an all-party government to take over.

Last May, Gotabaya’s brother and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakshe had resigned from his post following mass protest.

The island nation is struggling under a severe economic crisis and foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst financial turmoil in seven decades.