Protesters retreat as Sri Lankan president sends resignation

By KRUTIKA PATHI and KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Protesters have retreated from government buildings in Sri Lanka, restoring a tenuous calm to the economically crippled country. And the embattled president at last emailed the resignation that demonstrators have sought for months. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled a day earlier under pressure from the protesters enraged by the island nation’s economic collapse. An official said he finally emailed his resignation a day later than promised. But the crisis was far from over because he has further angered the crowds by making his prime minister the acting leader. Protesters have pressed for both men to leave and for a unity government to address the economic calamity that has triggered widespread shortages of food, fuel and other necessities.