Sri Lanka's anti-government demonstrators said on Thursday they were ending their occupation of official buildings, as they vowed to press on with their bid to bring down the president and prime minister in the face of a dire economic crisis.
Protesters in Sri Lanka have vowed to withdraw from presidential buildings, but will continue their struggle. Rajapaksa flew to Singapore from Malaysia on Thursday and will potentially fly to the United Arab Emirates from there.
Rajapaksa, 73, flew on Thursday to Singapore from Malaysia, but there was still no announcement of his resignation, despite his earlier promise to step down on Wednesday. But Wickremesinghe, whom Rajapaksa named as acting president in his absence, demanded the evacuation of occupied state buildings and instructed security forces to do"what is necessary to restore order", as a nationwide state of emergency and curfew were declared.We are peacefully withdrawing from the Presidential Palace, the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office with immediate effect, but will continue our struggle.
Police said a soldier and a constable were injured in overnight clashes with protesters outside the national parliament. Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for its 22 million people.
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