COLOMBO: Anti-government protestors from Sri Lanka stormed the President's House in Colombo on Saturday, calling for Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation while dodging many police and military roadblocks and tear gas canisters.
Security personnel used water cannons and tear gas to scatter the demonstrators, but they then withdrew and started shooting in the air. Following violent altercations between the police and the demonstrators, at least 20 people have been taken to the hospital.
There have been efforts to disperse the demonstrators and college students who had camped out overnight near the President's House since early on Saturday night. Although it is still unknown where the President is, it is assumed that he is in the strongly guarded Army headquarters in Battaramulla.
Religious leaders, political parties, doctors, university professors, civil rights activists, farmers, and fishermen have planned a significant people's protest march from all over the island to Colombo on Saturday, demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The Defence Ministry had warned police and soldiers have been given the authority to take action against people indulging in any type of violence, and on Friday night, authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in access regions to Colombo.
Lawyers declared the curfew declaration to be illegitimate and said that individuals might disregard it. People have been arriving in Colombo by train and bus in large numbers since early Saturday, yelling "Gota go home" and "Gota a mad guy."
In the wake of the island nation's worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948, people have been agitating since March 31 against President Rajapaksa and his government, demanding him to step down.
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