Chaos in Colombo Flashes Global Warning Sign
People crowd inside the presidential palace in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 10.
Photographer: Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images
In the end, the anger on the streets of Sri Lanka finally breached the security, tear gas and rubber bullets that had helped President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to hold on to power.
The defining images that surrounded his resignation this weekend were of people jumping into the presidential pool, rifling through medicine cabinets, and helping themselves to food and drink — a reminder of the struggle to find basic goods in a country with inflation approaching 70%.