Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa offers to resign as crisis worsens

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Offer comes hours after PM’s supporters storm a major protest site in Colombo and attack anti-government demonstrators.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has offered to resign, says a government official, as protests over the island nation’s economic crisis turn violent.

“The prime minister has sent his letter of resignation to the president,” the official said, declining to be named.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the embattled prime minister’s younger brother.

Rajapaksa’s offer to quit came hours after his party’s supporters stormed a major protest site in Colombo, attacking anti-government demonstrators and clashing with police who used tear gas and water cannon to drive them back.

More details to follow.