Sri Lankan protesters enjoy president's luxury pool, try gym

New Delhi: Protesters in their thousands surged through streets of Colombo on Sunday, before storming the President's residence.

They were repeating what crowds had done just two months before exactly on May 9, when they attacked former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's House.

A parked vehicle belonging to the prime minister was then set on fire in the midst of the uproar, as unruly crowds ransacked the place.

Nearly the same scenes repeated this time too on Sunday with protesters storming the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence.

Neither the PM nor the president were in the buildings at the time. The duo had been evacuated to a safer location.

Protesters had a free run of the presidential palace with men and women ambling through vestibules, hallways, parlours and king-size dining halls.

Footages show people walking the halls looking on in amazement at the luxuries catered to the president's family.

None of the footages show vandalism by protesters inside the palace and only reports yet to emerge from the place could help us better understand what else people were doing inside, apart from swimming in pool and working out in gym.

Protesters were seen enjoying the luxuries reserved for the president's family, with many swimming in the pool taking dive into the turquoise waters, hedged by fancy plants.

A lot of young men went ahead giving a tryout at the presidents' gym where they lifted weights and hit workout equipment. One man was seen helping another with weight lifting for biceps.

Now a lot of them turn to presidents' kitchen and made a short work of the food left there—yes, gorging on them.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, meanwhile, was forced to flee amid the escalating violence and demand for his resignation.

It was a chaotic day for the nation as well as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is holding on to power even after rest of his family relinquished their positions.

Protesters were demanding for months his resignation despite he managed an arrangement sharing power with Ranil Wickremesinghe making him prime minister in May.

Rajapaksa hoped that Wickremesinghe could somehow bring order in the nation's collapsed economy.

The arrangement failed to yield fruits as the nation went on spiraling down the crisis.

People's patience wore thin as the country ran short of fuel, medicine and cooking and oil reserves ran dry, alongside authorities temporarily shuttered schools.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe offered to step down which however wouldn't placate the people's anger.

Obviously, Ranil Wickremesinghe has been caught in the chaos by accepting Rajapakasa's offer. People stormed his residence and set it alight.

Later a lot of them headed towards the prime minister's official residence but police held the marchers out using tear gas and water cannon.

In the thick of the protest, Sri Lankan MP Rajitha Senaratne was seen attacked by protesters in the footage, as he was seen punched from all sides.