Your trusted source

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has submitted a letter of resignation, two government sources said on Thursday, after he fled to Singapore following mass protests over his country’s economic meltdown, CNBC reported.

Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the speaker of the country’s parliament late on Thursday, two sources said.

The letter was received by the country’s parliamentary speaker, his office said in a statement on Thursday, after it was flown from Singapore, where the leader fled to.

The speaker’s office said it will verify the authenticity of the letter, complete all legal processes and make an official announcement about Rajapaksa’s resignation on Friday.

In commercial capital Colombo, troops patrolled the streets to enforce a curfew.

Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on Wednesday to escape a popular uprising over his family’s role in a crippling economic crisis, headed on to Singapore on a Saudi Arabian airline flight, according to a person familiar with the situation.

A passenger on the flight, who declined to be named, told Reuters that Rajapaksa was met by a group of security guards and was seen leaving the airport VIP area in a convoy of black vehicles.

Airline staff on the flight told Reuters the president, dressed in black, flew business class with his wife and two bodyguards, describing him as “quiet” and “friendly”.

Singapore’s foreign ministry said Rajapaksa had entered the country on a private visit, and had not sought or been granted asylum.

His decision on Wednesday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the premier’s office demanding that he quit too.

“We want Ranil to go home,” Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who took part in the parliament protests, said on Thursday. “They have sold the country, we want a good person to take over, until then we won’t stop.”