Sri Lanka President Gotabaya flees as protesters storm residence

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday reportedly fled his official residence as protesters surrounded the house in Colombo. The developments were reported just shortly after Sri Lankan Police fired tear gas at protesters in the commercial capital to control thousands gathered for one of the largest anti-government marches in the crisis-hit country this year. Thousands of anti-government protesters poured into the capital ahead of Sunday's rally to pressure Rajapaksa to quit over the country's worsening economic crisis. Protesters on Saturday carried black and national flags and shouted "Gota go home," using a common shortened version of the president's name.

Live update from Colombo Fort. pic.twitter.com/SVmhGVWJ4R

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Colombo is under indefinite curfew since Saturday and the military has been placed on alert. Police chief Chandana Wickramaratne said Colombo and its suburbs are under curfew and urged residents to remain indoors. Demonstrators have for months are camping outside Rajapaksa's Colombo office to demand his resignation for economic debacle. Police fired shots in the air but were unable to stop the angry crowd from surrounding the presidential residence.

According to reports,  protesters had ignored the curfew and even forced railway authorities to operate trains to take them to Colombo for Saturday's rally. As per reports,  judges refusing police requests to outlaw the protests. Sri Lanka has suffered through months of food and fuel shortages, lengthy blackouts and galloping inflation after running out of foreign currency to import vital goods. The country has nearly exhausted already scarce supplies of petrol, but protesters backed by main opposition parties, had hired private buses to travel to the capital.