Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa escapes country

• President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka on a military jet.
• The 73-year-old man flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security guards.
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• As per reports, he will move to a third country instead of staying in the Maldives.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka on a military jet in the midst of widespread demonstrations over the country’s economic woes.

The air force of the country confirmed that the 73-year-old man flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security guards.

According to the reports, they landed in the capital, Male, at about 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT).

With the departure of Mr Rajapaksa, a family dynasty that has dominated Sri Lanka for decades comes to an end.

After demonstrators stormed his mansion on Saturday, the president went into hiding and vowed to quit on July 13.

As per a source who spoke with the international news agency, Mr Rajapaksa will not remain in the Maldives and will instead move to a third country.

His brother, Basil Rajapaksa, a former finance minister, has also reportedly departed Sri Lanka for the United States.

As Sri Lankans woke up, thousands took to Colombo’s streets. The primary protest place was Galle Face Green. On a makeshift stage, people gave furious speeches.

Amid shouts of “Victory to the struggle,” the rallying cry of the protest movement, speakers screamed against a government and its officials, whom they view as having let them down.

Some demonstrators were enraged by Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation because they saw a lack of accountability.

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“We don’t like it. We want to keep him. We want our money back! And we want to put all the Rajapaksas in an open prison where they can do farm work,” said protester GP Nimal.

Reshani Samarakoon, 23, told the international news agency that the former president’s exile offers “hope that in the future we can eventually become a developed country, economically and socially”.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is being blamed on President Rajapaksa.

They’ve had regular power outages and fuel, food, and medicine shortages for months.

As president, the leader can’t be charged with a crime, so he or she planned to leave the country before stepping down to avoid being caught.

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