Sri Lanka leader flees as protesters storm home, office

COLOMBO, July 9 ― Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence on Saturday shortly before protesters, angered by an unprecedented economic crisis, overran the compound and stormed his nearby office.

Footage broadcast live on social media showed hundreds of people walking through the palace, with some among the boisterous crowd jumping into the compound’s pool for a swim.The colonial-era state mansion is one of Sri Lanka’s key symbols of state power and officials said Rajapaksa’s departure raised questions as to whether he intended to remain in office.

Soon after the crowd stormed the presidential palace, Rajapaksa’s nearby office also fell into the hands of protesters. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who would assume the presidency in the event of Rajapaksa’s resignation, has called an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss a “swift resolution” to the political crisis.

Police had withdrawn a curfew issued on Friday after opposition parties, rights activists and the bar association threatened to sue the police chief. Demonstrators had for months been camped outside Rajapaksa’s seafront office to demand his resignation over the government’s mismanagement of the crisis.

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