Sri Lanka protesters enter presidential home, Gotabaya escorted to safety

Protesters demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa breached security barricades and entered his official residence, braving tear gas and water cannons amid reports the leader has left his compound.
 

Rajapaksa was escorted to safety away from the compound, Agence France-Presse cited an unidentified defense official as saying. Calls to the president’s secretary and media unit went unanswered.

Civil-rights activists, religious leaders and artists were among thousands from across the South Asian island who gathered Saturday at an oceanfront protest site near the presidential residence in the capital, Colombo.

Ahead of the protest, Omalpe Sobitha, a senior Buddhist monk at