Protesters Set House Of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe On Fire

Visuals of Wickremesinghe's house set on fire have surfaced on social media.

The day has been marked by large gatherings in Colombo that also stormed the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has moved to an unknown location. Thousands of protesters earlier on Saturday stormed the President's House and Presidential Secretariat and occupied these buildings.

Earlier in the evening, Wickremesinghe announced he would resign to make way for an all-party government.

Protesters are demanding resignations of Wickremesinghe and Gotabaya for their failure to improve the Sri Lankan financial crisis, which is the worst in the country's history. Prices have risen in recent months and the country has been suffering from grave shortages of essentials like cooking gas, vehicular fuel, edibles, and thermal fuel to produce electricity.

The protestors entered Wickremesinghe's house and set the place on fire after a tense situation erupted between the protestors and security forces on the ground. Despite tear gas being fired on the protestors to disperse, they entered his house and set the house on fire.

It has been reported that Gotabaya anticipated protests to be held on Saturday and that's why he left his house on Friday. He was not at his residence when protesters stormed it.

(With PTI inputs)