COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Protesters stormed the Sri Lankan prime minster's office after the president fled the country only hours before he was to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.

In recent days, protesters have occupied several government buildings demanding their top leaders step down. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives, according to an immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Rajapaksa had agreed to resign under pressure.

Protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe step down immediately. He said he would leave once a new government was in place.