Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in the capital Colombo on Saturday after protesters stormed the worst economic crisis to hit the country in modern history, a senior defense ministry official revealed.
The official said the Sri Lankan president’s escape came after demonstrators stormed the official residence, before television showed scenes showing demonstrators storming the compound and calling for the president’s resignation.
“President Rajapaksa has been taken to a safe place,” the source said, adding that soldiers fired in the air to prevent angry protesters from taking control of the presidential palace.
Thousands of protesters carrying Sri Lankan flags took to the roads with relatively few vehicles due to severe fuel shortages, while others rode bicycles, many after police lifted curfews. They marched from the countryside to protest sites in the capital, Colombo.
Police imposed a curfew in Colombo and several other major urban areas on Friday night, but lifted the ban on Saturday morning amid protests from lawyers and opposition politicians who called it illegal.
Riot police and the army are stationed in the city, and the official residence of the president is heavily cordoned off.
According to the Associated Press, protesters hold Rajapaksa responsible for economic problems and have occupied the entrance to his office for three months.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said last month that the country’s economy had collapsed.
The government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund were complicated because it now entered the negotiations as a bankrupt country.
Last April, Sri Lanka announced the suspension of foreign loan repayments due to a shortage of foreign currency.
Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt is $51 billion and it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
Source: Lebanon Debate
