Sri Lanka Crisis: President To Resign On July 13, Protesters set fire to the prime minister's home

Protesters made their way into the house, chanting slogans and waving the national flag/courtesy Reuters/BBC

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced he will step down after protesters stormed his official residence and set the prime minister's house on fire.

Neither the PM nor the president was in the buildings.

Hundreds of thousands descended on the capital Colombo, calling for Mr Rajapaksa to resign after months of protests over economic mismanagement.

Mr Rajapaksa will step down on 13 July. PM Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign.

Mr Rajapaksa vacated his official residence on Friday as a safety precaution ahead of the planned protests, two defence ministry sources said, according to Reuters.

Protesters made their way towards the president's residence on Saturday morning, before breaking through barricades. Footage on social media soon showed people roaming through the house and splashing in the pool. Some could be seen emptying out a chest of drawers.

Similar scenes could be witnessed at the prime minister's house.

The country is suffering rampant inflation and is struggling to import food, fuel and medicine.