Sri Lanka crisis: Thousands of protestors storm President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home - See pics

Thousands of protesters stormed into Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo on Saturday. They were demanding his resignation over the country's worst economic crisis in seven decades.

 

Security forces were unable to hold back the chanting protesters, who also forced their way through heavy metal gates into the Finance Ministry and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sea-front offices.

According to reports, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had already left the official residence on Friday as a safety precaution ahead of the planned weekend demonstration. 

 

Pictures from inside Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's house showed hundreds of protesters splashing in the swimming pool. Several others were also seen sitting on a four-poster bed and sofas and eating in the kitchen. 

 

Hundreds of protestors milled about on the grounds of the colonial-era white-washed presidential residence.

 

Draped in the national flag, some Sri Lanka protestors were also seen packing into rooms and corridors.

According to reports, at least 39 people, including two police officers, were injured and hospitalised during the protests.

 

Former Sri Lanka cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya also joined protesters. 

 

The Indian Ocean island of 22 million people, is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging it into the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

 

Soaring inflation, which has heaped hardship on the population, reached a record 54.6% in June and is likely to hit 70% in the coming months.