After the president of Sri Lanka departed the nation just hours before he was scheduled to stand down in the midst of a terrible economic crisis that has created serious shortages of food and fuel, protesters invaded the office of the prime minister in an attempt to force him to resign.
In recent days, demonstrators have taken multiple government buildings with the demand that their senior officials stand down from their positions. An immigration officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards boarded a Sri Lankan Air Force jet and flew to the city of Male, which is the capital of the Maldives.
Rajapaksa had decided to retire under pressure.
The immediate resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is what the demonstrators are seeking. He indicated that he would step down once a new administration had been installed.