The President of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was escorted out of his official residence in Colombo today minutes before thousands of protesters stormed it, in one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in the country in recent months.
Some protesters, carrying Sri Lankan flags and helmets, stormed the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to images reported by local television network NewsFirst.
As reported by private television network Sirasa TV, a crowd of protesters have stormed the presidential palace, which was until recently heavily guarded.
A Defence Services source said Rajapaksa remains Sri Lanka's president and has been taken to a safe location where he is being protected by the military.
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Earlier, thousands of people had thronged the Colombo district where the government buildings are located, chanting slogans against the president and breaking several police barricades until they reached his residence.
Police fired in the air but failed to prevent the angry crowd from surrounding the presidential palace, an eyewitness said.
Sri Lanka is reeling from the worst economic crisis in its history. It is facing a huge shortage of foreign exchange, which prevents it from importing sufficient quantities of food, fuel, medicine and other essentials.
The island of 22 million people, near India, has been living for months at the pace of daily power cuts, endless queues at petrol stations, rationing on food, and record inflation that has reached 70 percent.
Peaceful protests for several weeks have centered on the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whom many citizens, even as former supporters, accuse of mismanagement.
After the protests broke out, all members of the Rajapaksa family involved in the government resigned, with the exception of the country's president.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ignored calls to resign and in May, after the resignation of the prime minister and his brother Mahinda, he appointed his rival Ranil Wickremesinghe to the prime ministry.
Late yesterday (Friday) police imposed a curfew in and around Colombo after thousands of students, who were marching towards Rajapaksa's residence, were confronted with tear gas by law enforcement forces.
The police chief, who had earlier this week indicated that the authorities would not block the peaceful protests, said in a statement today that the curfew would be lifted by 8:00 a.m.
Source: APE-MPA
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