Sri Lanka declares emergency as Rajapaksa flees, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe takes over as acting president

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.

"Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country," Prime Minister's spokesman Dinouk Colombage said. 

PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, takes over as acting president. 

The country with a 22 million population has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages, and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record.

The Sri Lankan citizens have continued to demand the resignation of President Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for the chronic mismanagement of the country's finances.

Thousands of demonstrators had mobbed the premier's office, prompting police to fire tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound. 

In recent days, protesters have occupied several government buildings demanding their top leaders to step down. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of  Male, the capital of the Maldives.

The United States on July 7 announced that it will provide $6 million in emergency assistance to Sri Lanka to address the needs of the marginalized and vulnerable communities impacted by the country's economic crisis.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain 1948. The economic crisis has prompted an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and other fuel, toilet paper and many more.