Protesters abandon seized buildings with Sri Lanka in limbo

A police commando stands guard at the cabinet hall of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 14, 2022. Sri Lankan protesters began to retreat from government buildings they had seized and military troops reinforced security at the Parliament on Thursday, establishing a tenuous calm in a country in both economic meltdown and political limbo. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Protesters roll a carpet at the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, July 14, 2022. With the country sinking into political chaos, Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives on Wednesday aboard an air force jet. He made the prime minister acting president in his absence ” a move that further roiled passions among a public that blames Rajapaksa for an economic crisis that has caused severe shortages of food and fuel. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]