Colombo: Sri Lanka is in a much worse economic slump in its independent history, with inflation expected to reach 70%. For months, it has faced shortages of everything from fuel to medicine, sparking protests that resulted in the resignations of all Rajapaksa family members in government, except the president.

Before fierce protesters demanding his resignation entered the campus. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was evacuated from his official residence in Colombo on Saturday to a safe place. The Sri Lankan Bar Association and opposition parties both called the lockdown illegal and urged protesters to continue their peaceful protests. Earlier this week, a Colombo court denied the government's request to keep the protesters away from the president's official residence. According to officials, thousands of anti-government protesters defied the stay-at-home order, forcing railway officials to operate trains to take them to Colombo for Saturday's rally.

After running out of foreign exchange to import essential goods, Sri Lanka has faced months of food and fuel shortages, prolonged blackouts. Huge crowds gathered in the capital to protest, the latest manifestation of the island nation's unbelievable economic crisis. Police on Friday withdrew the curfew order issued after opposition parties, human rights activists and bar associations threatened to prosecute the police chief.