Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees as protesters surround residence

Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled from his residence in capital Colombo Saturday afternoon after mobs protesting the ongoing and severe economic crisis stormed and overran the building's compound. 

The police fired tear gas at protestors demanding that Rajapaksa and his government resign over the island nation’s worst economic crisis in recent memory.

Thousands of protesters carrying Sri Lankan flags rode on the relatively few vehicles on the roads due to an acute fuel shortage, while others rode bicycles and many walked to protest sites in the capital, Colombo, from the suburbs after police lifted an overnight curfew. 

Protesters blame Rajapaksa for the economic woes and have occupied the entrance to his office for three months. 

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said last month that the country's economy has collapsed. The government's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have been complex because it has now entered negotiations as a bankrupt state. 

Sri Lanka now has a $51 billion foreign debt. Persistent fiscal deficits, a major 2019 tax cut package, and the horrors of the COVID-19 outbreak have rendered Sri Lanka's public debt load unsustainable, while the collapse of tourism has resulted in a drop in foreign exchange earnings.

Colombo has announced that it would stop repayment of foreign debts after its foreign currency reserves fell below $50 million.

Sri Lanka is currently required to pay $7 billion in foreign loans by the end of this year, and $25 billion by 2026.