Sri Lanka protests: President flees country, curfew imposed after crowds storm PM's office

Barely hours after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country to the Maldives on Wednesday, protesters used a makeshift battering ram in an attempt to break through the prime minister's compound while others clashed with riot police in the streets.

"Ranil go home!" crowds chanted as they climbed onto buildings in Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office in Colombo.

Wickremesinghe, who is now acting as the president in Rajapaksa's absence, declared a nationwide emergency and clamped a curfew in the city and surrounding areas.

Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksas and their allies for runaway inflation, corruption and a severe lack of fuel and medicines.

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