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Sri Lanka leader flees as protesters storm home, office

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Protestors demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gather inside the compound of Sri Lanka's Presidential Palace in Colombo on July 9, 2022. PHOTO | AFP

By  AFP

Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence on Saturday shortly before protesters, angered by an unprecedented economic crisis, overran the compound and stormed his nearby office.

Hundreds of thousands of people massed on the streets around the leader's home, according to police estimates, to demand he step down over the government's mismanagement of the unprecedented downturn.

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