Colombo:

Sri Lanka’s beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in Colombo Saturday, a prime defence supply informed AFP, earlier than protesters gathered to demand his resignation stormed the compound.

“The president was escorted to safety,” the supply stated, including that troops fired within the air to stop indignant crowds from overrunning the President’s Palace.

Sirasa TV, a personal broadcaster, confirmed crowds getting into the as soon as tightly-guarded residence.

Sri Lanka has suffered by way of months of meals and gasoline shortages, prolonged blackouts and galloping inflation after working out of overseas foreign money to import important items.

Huge crowds had poured into the capital for the demonstration, the most recent expression of unrest sparked by the island nation’s unprecedented financial disaster.

Police had withdrawn a curfew order issued on Friday after opposition events, rights activists and the bar affiliation threatened to sue the police chief.

Thousands of anti-government protesters ignored the stay-home order and even compelled railway authorities to function trains to take them to Colombo for Saturday’s rally, officers stated.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)