Protesters abandon seized palace with Sri Lanka in limbo

A protester stands outside the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)

Sri Lankan protesters have begun to retreat from government buildings they had seized and military troops reinforced security at the parliament, establishing a tenuous calm in a country in both economic meltdown and political limbo.

Embattled president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled a day earlier under pressure from protesters furious over the island nation’s economic collapse.