Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has resigned after months of protests around the country’s economic collapse and widespread hardship. 

The New York Times reported that Mr Rajapaksa submitted his resignation by email from Singapore where he travelled after first fleeing to the Maldives. Mr Rajapaksa fled the country to the Maldives on an air force flight after weeks of protests and the storming of his office on Saturday.

The report also noted that Singapore’s foreign ministry confirmed Mr Rajapaksa’s entry. It said he had neither been granted nor had asked for asylum.

On Wednesday, four-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the country’s acting president. In 2018, Mr Wickremesinghe was fired from the post by Sri Lanka’s seventh president, Maithripala Sirisena.

Protests outside Sri Lanka’s parliament in Colombo had left some 42 people injured. One soldier reportedly had his rifle, and 60 rounds of ammunition seized by a mob of protesters. 

The prime minister’s private residence was burnt down during the protests on Saturday. 

A state of emergency was on Wednesday imposed to control the protests in Colombo. The curfew was lifted at dawn on Thursday.