After months of persistent street protests over fuel shortages, surging prices and financial mismanagement, Sri Lankan leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa is finally on the verge of being ousted.
The president fled on Saturday to an undisclosed location shortly before demonstrators stormed his official seaside residence in the face of tear gas and rubber bullets. In dramatic scenes, they wandered through the rooms, frolicked in the swimming pool and helped themselves to food and drink — a reminder of the struggle to find basic goods with inflation set to hit 70%.
Hours later, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced on national television that Rajapaksa would step down on Wednesday. While the president had previously vowed to serve out the remaining two years of his term, he was surprised that protesters would break into his residence even with an overnight curfew, limited public transport and a lack of gas, according to a government official familiar with the events.
