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Thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka broke through police barricades and stormed the presidential residence, news reports said.
In one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in the country this year, protesters demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Thousands of people poured into the government district of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, chanting slogans against the president and tearing down several police barricades to reach Mr Rajapaksa’s home, Reuters reported.
Police fired into the air but were unable to stop the angry crowd from surrounding the presidential palace.
At least 21 people, including two police officers, were injured in the unrest, hospital sources said.
As a safety precaution, the president was taken away from his official premises after hundreds of protesters were seen crowding the property during a Facebook live broadcast, according to two Defense Department sources.
Sri Lanka, with a population of 22 million, is facing its worst economic crisis since 1948.
It has been struggling with a severe foreign exchange shortage, which has restricted essential imports of fuel, food and medicine.
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