Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence in the capital, Colombo, on Saturday, a senior defense official told AFP, before television showed scenes showing demonstrators demanding the president’s resignation storming the complex.
“The president was taken to a safe place,” the source said, adding that the soldiers fired in the air to prevent angry protesters from seizing the presidential palace.
The private television station Serasa showed scenes of a crowd entering the heavily guarded headquarters.
Sri Lanka has been suffering for months from food and fuel shortages, electricity cuts and rapid inflation, after it ran out of foreign currency needed to import vital goods.
Large crowds flocked to the capital to participate in the demonstration, in a new scene of turmoil caused by an unprecedented economic crisis in this country.
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