Just hours after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, hundreds of people marched in a protest demanding the prime minister's resignation that escalated into clashes with police, Reuters reported.

 "Ranil go home!" they chanted as they tried to storm the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Police fired tear gas several times and Wickremesinghe, who was acting president in his absence, declared a nationwide state of emergency and imposed curfews in the city and surrounding areas.

Protesters see him as an ally of the Rajapaksa clan and want him gone.