Sri Lanka crisis live | Sri Lanka declares emergency after President flees

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the island and reached the nearby Maldives in the early hours of Wednesday, ahead of his promised resignation, days after enraged protesters overran his office and residence in a protest sparked by a devastating economic crisis

Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis, and on Wednesday, the country’s president flew out of the country days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence in a likely prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests against his island nation’s worst-ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a “peaceful transition of power” after fleeing his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.

The island nation of 22 million people has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record.

Months of protests have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for chronic mismanagement of the country’s finances.

The United States rejected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recent request for a visa, The Hindu learnt from a top official, amid growing speculation over the besieged leader’s “attempts to flee” the country after promising to quit office.

Here are the latest updates about the ongoing economic-turned-political crisis in the island nation.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared a nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, the Prime Minister’s office said.

“Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country,” Prime Minister’s spokesman Dinouk Colombage told AFP. -AFP