Colombo (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence shortly before protesters, angered by an unprecedented economic crisis, overran the compound and stormed his nearby office. Hundreds of thousands of people massed on the streets around the leader’s home, according to police estimates, to demand he step down over the government’s mismanagement of the unprecedented downturn. Earlier troops guarding the residence fired in the air to hold the crowd back until Rajapaksa was safely removed.
