Sri Lanka's prime minister resigned after weeks of rallies demanding that he and his brother, the country's president, quit plunging the nation into its worst economic crisis in decades.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said through Twitter that he had offered his resignation to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. This followed a violent attack by government supporters on protestors, which prompted authorities to deploy armed forces in Colombo.

Police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa told the Associated Press that four individuals, including a lawmaker from the ruling party, were killed in Monday's violence. Monday evening, President Rajapaksa declared a nationwide curfew till Wednesday morning.

For more than a month, protests have expanded nationwide, attracting individuals of diverse nationalities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Substantial numbers of middle-class Sri Lankans flocked to the streets for the first time, signaling a stunning uprising by many erstwhile Rajapaksa loyalists. Some of them had spent weeks protesting outside the president's office.

The protests highlighted the severe decline in popularity of the Rajapaksas, Sri Lanka's most dominant political dynasty, for decades. The brothers were formerly regarded as heroes by members of the island's Buddhist-Sinhalese majority for ending the country's 30-year civil conflict. Despite claims of war atrocities, they were entrenched at the top of Sri Lankan politics until recently.

The prime minister's resignation follows weeks of rapid economic decline. Imports from milk to petrol have dropped, precipitating severe food shortages and rolling blackouts. People had to wait in line for hours to purchase necessities. Doctors have warned of devastating medicine shortages in hospitals, and the government has postponed payments on $7 billion in foreign debt due this year alone.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa first attributed Sri Lanka's economic troubles to global causes such as the epidemic that ravaged its tourism business and the Russia-Ukraine conflict that drove up international oil costs. However, both he and his brother have since admitted to errors that aggravated the crisis, including that they should have sought an IMF bailout sooner.

Sri Lanka has been negotiating a rescue package with the IMF, but its success is contingent on debt restructuring talks with creditors. Any long-term plan would require at least six months to implement.

Sri Lanka was already in financial distress before the Ukraine conflict pushed up food and oil prices.

After reducing taxes in 2019 and trying to collect taxes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lankan government has been running large budget deficits. It has amassed vast foreign debt, much of which is owing to China, and has limited foreign exchange reserves to pay for imports and protect its beleaguered rupee.

Sri Lanka tops a list developed by Liliana Rojas-Suarez of the Center for Global Development that rates the countries most susceptible to financial crises. Those most vulnerable rely on commodity imports and have little foreign exchange reserves relative to their debts to other nations.

In several regions of the country, Rajapaksa supporters were singled out and attacked due to Monday's violence.

Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his bodyguard were killed near Nittambuwa, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Colombo, after their automobile was intercepted by an angry crowd, according to a police spokeswoman.

The official stated that Athukorala or his bodyguard had shot weapons at the demonstrators, who then pursued them and confined them inside a building. Their severely beaten bodies were retrieved several hours later.

He stated that three people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after rounds were fired from the lawmaker's vehicle.

Separately, in the Rajapaksas' hometown of Weeraketiya, a mob that attempted to torch the home of a local leader was fired upon, killing two protesters, he added.

Monday night, protesters repeatedly attempted to break into the prime minister's official residence, leading police to fire tear gas. Some homes of ministers and lawmakers who supported the Rajapaksas were also attacked and set on fire. The memorial for the parents of the brothers was vandalized.

Colombo-based political scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda stated that the prime minister's resignation signaled a new chapter in the country's political crisis. "The prime minister had to resign in disgrace after his supporters unleashed such violence," he claimed.

After Monday's bloodshed, he added, it would be difficult for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to preserve his reputation.

However, the president has thus far refused to resign, making it impossible for the legislature to remove him. The prime minister's resignation resulted in the dissolution of the entire Cabinet.

Monday morning, protestors who had been demonstrating outside the prime minister's official residence for weeks were attacked with wooden and iron poles by supporters of the prime minister. They then marched to the president's office, attacking demonstrators and setting fire to their camps.

The police shot tear gas and a water cannon, but not with sufficient force to subdue the mob. The incident occurred despite the president's declaration of a state of emergency on Friday, which granted him broad authority over riot control.

Hundreds of armed soldiers were deployed in the capital after demonstrators accused police of failing to prevent the attack despite employing tear gas and water cannons on Friday.

"Police did not protect us, therefore we have taken it into our own hands," said Druvi Jinasena, who was helping to block highways to safeguard the protest location.

A source at the main hospital in Colombo reported that 173 individuals were treated for minor injuries and 15 for severe injuries. The official spoke anonymously because she was not authorized to talk to the media.

The country's foreign reserves have fallen below $50 million, and it owes about $25 billion in international debt due by 2026. Its overall foreign debt amounts to $51 billion.

Meanwhile, public outrage against the Rajapaksa family has only intensified, increasing the pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.

Senior Researcher at the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo Bhavani Fonseka stated, "There has been sustained pressure for the last several weeks for the president to resign, but he hasn't paid much attention to that,"

People are enraged, and their fury will not subside any time soon.