Sri Lanka protesters to end occupation of official buildings

COLOMBO, July 14 (AFP): Sri Lanka's anti-government demonstrators said 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 overran President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace at the weekend, forcing him to flee to the Maldives on Wednesday, when activists also stormed the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Sri Lanka president left the Maldives Thursday aboard a Saudia airline plane bound for Singapore, an airport official told AFP, a day after he escaped to the atoll nation.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife Ioma and their two bodyguards were escorted to the aircraft minutes before it took off from Velana International airport in Male, the official said.

Rajapaksa had promised to resign on Wednesday, but there was no announcement he had done so.

The premier, whom Rajapaksa named as acting president in his absence, had demanded the evacuation of state buildings and instructed security forces to do "what is necessary to restore order".

"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," a spokeswoman for the protesters said.

A top Buddhist monk supporting the campaign had earlier called for the more than 200-years-old presidential palace to be handed back to authorities and ensure its valuable art and artefacts were preserved.

"This building is a national treasure and it should be protected," monk Omalpe Sobitha told reporters. "There must be a proper audit and the property given back to the state."

Hundreds of thousands have visited the compound since it was opened out to the public after Rajapaksa fled and his security guards backed down.

In a televised address after thousands of people captured his office in Colombo, Wickremesinghe declared: "Those who go to my office want to stop me from discharging my responsibilities as acting president.

"We can't allow fascists to take over. That is why I declared a nationwide emergency and a curfew," he added.

The curfew was lifted at dawn on Thursday, but police said a soldier and a

constable were injured in overnight clashes with protesters outside the national parliament.

The attempt on the legislature was beaten back, unlike at other locations where the protesters had spectacular success.

The main hospital in Colombo said about 85 people were admitted with injuries on Wednesday, with one man suffocating to death after being tear-gassed at the premier's office.

The Sri Lankan president emailed his resignation, an official said later on Thursday.