Protesters storm Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, hours after the embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, forced out by a popular uprising that has targeted the top leadership over the country’s dire economic crisis. Rajapaksa went to the Maldives just before dawn Wednesday on a military aircraft with his wife, four days after he went into hiding, as protesters, furious over his refusal to step down, overran his residence and office. But Rajapaksa’s exit did not appease protesters, who were incensed he had named Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, seen as a close ally, as acting president.
In Pictures: Sri Lanka in Crisis
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Protesters storm the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office in Colombo, July 13, 2022.
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A woman takes a selfie in front of a painting inside the President's house after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 13, 2022.
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People wait in a queue with empty cylinders to buy domestic gas at a distribution center, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 12, 2022.