On Tuesday, Sri Lanka deployed thousands of troops and police to enforce a curfew after five people were killed in the deadliest violence in weeks of protests against an unprecedented economic crisis.

As prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday, over 200 people were injured, but this did little to assuage public outrage.

Thousands of anti-government protestors attacked his official residence in Colombo overnight, prompting police to fire tear gas and warning shots to disperse the gathering. On Tuesday, he had to be rescued by the military in a predawn operation.

"After a pre-dawn operation, the former PM and his family were evacuated to safety by the army," a senior security official told AFP. At least ten petrol bombs were thrown into the compound.

The Rajapaksa clan's grip on power has been weakened by months of blackouts and shortages in Sri Lanka, the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

However, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa remains in office with broad authority and command over the security forces.

Andrew Fidel Fernando reports on demonstrations in Sri Lanka.

Violence erupted on Monday as Mahinda Rajapaksa's supporters, bussed into the capital from the countryside, attacked protestors with rods and clubs.

"We were hit, the media were hit, women and children were hit," a witness told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters and announced an instant curfew in Colombo, eventually extending to the entire 22 million-person South Asian nation.

Authorities have announced that the curfew will be removed on Wednesday morning, with government and private offices, shops, and schools required to remain closed on Tuesday.

US Ambassador Julie Chung tweeted that Washington denounced "the violence against peaceful protestors" and urged the Sri Lankan government to conduct a thorough investigation, including the arrest and prosecution of anybody who incited violence.

Shot dead

Monday night, in defiance of the curfew, anti-government protestors retaliated against government supporters for the attacks.

Amarakeerthi Athukorala, a politician from the ruling party, reportedly shot and killed a 27-year-old man outside of Colombo after being besieged by anti-government protestors.

"He then took his own life with his revolver," a police official told AFP.

The bodyguard of Athukorala was also discovered dead at the site, according to the police.

Police claimed that an unnamed member of the ruling party opened fire on protestors in the island's deep south, killing two and wounding five.

Angry mobs torched the residences of more than a dozen pro-Rajapaksa lawmakers and several vehicles and buses, and trucks used by government supporters in and around Colombo.

Several Rajapaksa residences in various parts of the country were destroyed, as was the family museum in their ancestral village.

Doctors at the main Colombo National Hospital rescued wounded government supporters, with soldiers busting open closed gates to transport the wounded inside.

A doctor yelled at a crowd blocking the entrance to the emergency room, "They may be murderers, but for us they are patients who must be treated first,"

Governmental cohesion

The 76-year-old Mahinda Rajapaksa announced his resignation to pave the way for a government of unity.

However, it remained uncertain whether the opposition would join any unity administration, having previously refused to govern with members of the Rajapaksa family.

Under Sri Lanka's political system, even with a new unity government, the president will have the authority to appoint and dismiss ministers and judges and protect them from punishment.

"Unless President Rajapaksa steps down, no one — whether the masses in the streets or key political stakeholders — will be appeased," Wilson Center analyst Michael Kugelman told AFP.

The demonstrations occurred after the coronavirus pandemic decimated the island's crucial income from tourism and remittances, depriving the nation of the foreign currency necessary to pay off its debt.

This compelled the government to prohibit many imports, resulting in severe shortages, inflation, and prolonged power outages.

In April, Sri Lanka declared default on its $51 billion foreign debt.

According to Akhil Bery of the Asia Society Policy Institute, it is uncertain what President Rajapaksa will do next in response to the protests.

In addition to following his brother in retiring, he may create a caretaker administration before resigning, use the military and police to quell the protests, or wait for them to "die down naturally," Bery told AFP.

Regardless of the outcome, the incoming government will have to make "unpopular decisions" to restore the economy.

Any rescue from the International Monetary Fund — presently under negotiation — would require "higher taxes and less government spending, which is a politically toxic combination," he warned.