"Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country," said Dinouk Colombage, spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP" title="Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees"class="img-responsive" alt="Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees" title="Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees"src="https://images.forbesindia.com/media/images/2022/Jul/img_189587_000_32e84kg_bg.jpg">In this file photo taken on January 3, 2020, Sri Lanka's new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa makes his first policy address at the national parliament after his landslide electoral victory, in Colombo. Millions of rupees in cash left behind by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he fled his official residence in the capital will be handed over to court on July 11, 2022, police said. Image: Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, the prime minister's office said.
"Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country," Dinouk Colombage, spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, told AFP.
Police said they were also imposing an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which includes the capital Colombo, to contain growing protests after Rajapaksa flew to the Maldives in a military aircraft.
Thousands of demonstrators had mobbed the premier's office, prompting police to fire tear gas to hold them back from overrunning the compound.