Protesters storm Lankan Prez’s residence, clash with cops

CHENNAI: Thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo broke through police barricades and stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence on Saturday in one of the largest anti-government marches in the crisis-hit country this year, according to news reports.

Sri Lanka's beleaguered President fled his official residence in Colombo Saturday, a top defence source told AFP, before protesters gathered to demand his resignation entered the compound. According to sources, the president was escorted to safety, adding that troops fired in the air to prevent angry crowds from overrunning the President's Palace.

Huge crowds had poured into the capital for the demonstration, the latest expression of unrest sparked by the island nation's unprecedented economic crisis. Police had withdrawn curfew order issued on Friday after opposition parties, rights activists and the bar association threatened to sue the police chief.

Thousands of anti-government protesters ignored the stay-home order and even forced railway authorities to operate trains to take them to Colombo for Saturday's rally, officials said.

The island of 22 million people is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst financial turmoil in seven decades. Thousands of people swarmed into Colombo’s government district, shouting slogans against the president and dismantling several police barricades to reach Rajapaksa’s house, according to news reports. Police fired shots in the air but were unable to stop the angry crowd from surrounding the presidential residence, reports added.