Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose resignation was expected tomorrow, left the country aboard a military plane. The 73-year-old leader left with his wife and a bodyguard following protests against him in recent days.
In the previous hours, Rajapaksa had been denied VIP access to the Sri Lankan airport from which the president in office wanted to pass to leave the state, avoiding the controls at the terminal open to the public and therefore any possible reaction of the citizens present. The head of state and his wife then spent the night at a military base near the international airport after missing four flights that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.
Sri Lanka in chaos, thousands invade the mega villa of the escaped president: they swim in the pool, work out in the gym and use his beds
On Saturday, the head of state was rushed to a Navy ship to take shelter from the angry crowd of protesters who blame the president for the disastrous economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The insurgents then occupied the presidential palace and threatened not to leave until Rajapaksa resigned.
His younger brother Basil, who resigned as finance minister in April, missed a flight to Dubai after a similar mishap with immigration officials. Basil tried to use a paid boarding service for business travelers, but the airport and immigration staff announced that the expedited service had been discontinued with immediate effect. “Some passengers protested against Basil boarding their flight,” said an airport official, “and it was a tense situation, so the former minister” left the airport quickly. “