Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa to leave country later

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Maldives early this morning, is to leave Singapore later today, according to the news agency ANI.

Rajapaksa arrived in the Velana International Airport in the Maldives early Wednesday. The prime minister's office also confirmed that Rajapaksa had left the country.

Protesters have demanded the resignation of both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe to restore normalcy in the country. Wickremesinghe pledged that he would step down as prime minister when an all-party government is formed.

Embattled President Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives in the morning on a military jet, hours before he was due to quit in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.

In the Maldives, 73 year old Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as acting president, citing Article 37 1 of the Constitution, which allows a premier to discharge the powers, duties, and functions of the office of president when the president is ill or 'absent' from the country.

Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that Rajapaksa has appointed Wickremesinghe to perform his functions while he is abroad.

Abeywardena said that Rajapaksa has informed him over the phone that he will resign as promised. He said the vote for the new president will take place on July 20.

The protesters who had arrived in large numbers at the PM Office surrounded the building. The police fired tear gas on protesters who broke through a barricade and stormed the prime minister's office, calling for his resignation.

The channel resumed its transmission later in the day.

A second Sri Lankan state television channel went off the air less than an hour after Rupavahini suspended its operations.