President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left the country, according to a high ranking security official, after mass protest forced him to resign from his chair.

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)_Monitoring, Earlier this week, the embattled Rajapaksa was blocked from departing Sri Lanka at least twice, after refusing to join a public immigration queue at the Bandaranaike International Airport, according to sources.

On a first attempt Monday, the Sri Lankan President and members of his family – including Frist Lady Loma Rajapaksa – failed to fly on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight bound to Dubai, as the immigration officers declined to process the passports given to them by presidential aids.

According to the military sources, Rajapaksa and his family were not physically present for cross checks, which was the main reason the flight departed without the president and his family on board.


Sri Lanka has been facing a mass protest for months over the country’s worst financial crisis since independence, as he has been accused of high-level corruption and economic mismanagement.

He agreed to step down from his office on Saturday, after more than 100,000 people massed outside his residence and called for his resignation, as the cable news reported.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who left the country late on Tuesday, arrived in the Maldives on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.