Protests demand Sri Lanka leader resign over economic crisis

Police fired tear gas and a water cannon at thousands of protesters outside the home of Sri Lanka’s president, demanding he resign over the nation’s worst economic crisis

MIRIHANA, Sri Lanka -- Police fired tear gas and a water cannon at thousands of protesters outside the home of Sri Lanka's president Thursday, demanding he resign over the nation's worst economic crisis.

Police later enforced a curfew in suburbs of the capital because the protests wouldn't subside. The protesters blamed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for long power outages and shortages of essentials and shouted, “Go home, Gota go home.”

The crowds demonstrating along the roads leading to his private residence at Mirihana, on the outskirts of Colombo, stoned two army buses that police were using to block the protesters from entering the road leading to Rajapaksa’s residence. They set fire to one of buses and turned back a fire truck that rushed to douse it.

At least one person was severely injured in the leg when police fired tear gas cannisters directly at protesters to stop their attack on the bus.