In Koralawella, a coastal village just south of Colombo, Anusha Fernando, her husband, and their 7-year-old child have been surviving on just a single curry and rice most days, which they spread out between lunch and dinner. Despite living in a fishing village, Fernando, who is eight months pregnant, has barely been able to afford seafood—or even eggs, meat, or milk powder—since the beginning of the year.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka on a military jet, amid mass protests over the island's economic crisis.

The country's air force confirmed the 73-year-old flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security officials.

In his absence, he has appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president.

Mr Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency and regional curfew in the western province.

Mr Rajapaksa's departure ends a family dynasty that has dominated Sri Lanka's politics for the past two decades.

“Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives on Wednesday, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis… Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo.” (Reuters)

Mass protests in Sri Lanka have forced the country’s president and prime minister to agree to resign as the country faces a dire economic crisis. On Saturday, thousands of protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s home and set fire to the prime minister’s residence. Protesters have vowed to keep occupying the president’s home until he formally resigns. Many people were filmed swimming in the president’s pool. Demonstrators condemned the president for living in luxury while Sri Lanka faces an economic crisis.

The world is going through a period of unprecedented instability, distress and uncertainty. The novel coronavirus pandemic, and the threat posed by it to the socioeconomic fabric of nations, pushed many governments around the world into an existential crisis and forced them to switch to survival mode. Populist politicians in these countries, who failed to respond to this public health crisis swiftly and efficiently, resorted to scapegoating minority communities, especially Muslims, to justify their shortcomings.

Newly-elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has named his brother, Mahinda, as prime minister, cementing the grip on power of a clan credited with crushing the Tamil Tigers 10 years ago.

Mahinda, a two-term president himself, is due to be sworn in as prime minister on Thursday following the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in the weekend's presidential polls.