Sri Lanka

Taking to Twitter, the UN chief said, "I continue to follow the situation in Sri Lanka very closely. It is important that the root casues of the conflict and protesters' grievances are addressed. "I urge all party members to embrace the spirit of compromise for a peaceful and democratic transition." On Wednesday, a sea of protesters gathered outside Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed the acting President and has declared a state of emergency in the country following a standoff between police and military personnel with angry protestors which tried to enter the Prime Minister's office, the Daily Mirror reported.

He added in a special statement that the President has informed him that the Prime Minister was appointed as the Acting President as he was away from the country, the Daily Mirror reported. President Rajapaksa has arrived in the Maldives earlier on Wednesday morning after having fled Sri Lanka and will be making his way to a final destination. Where that is however, is still unclear.

The Prime Minister has also ordered the security forces to arrest people acting in a riotous manner and the lorries they are travelling, BBC reported. Thousands of protesters forcefully entered towards the Prime Minister's office on Flower Road in state capital Colombo -- a 20-minute walk away from the main protest site of Galle Face Green.

President Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives early on Wednesday morning, along with his wife and two security officers amid mass scale protests against him in Sri Lanka, Daily Mirror reported.

Protests so far on Wednesday around the state capital had been largely peaceful, with demonstrators chanting and giving speeches, the BBC reported. An enthusiastic crowd gathered in Galle Face Green early Wednesday morning. Chants of the popular phrase 'Aragalayata Jayawewa', or "Victory to the struggle" in Sinhalese -- which is commonly used at protests -- can be heard in the air, while some wave flags high in the air.

The Presidential post fell vacant prematurely in Sri Lankan history on one occasion -- the assassination of President R. Premadasa on May 1, 1993 . It is now slated to be vacant after the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as already announced by him, the Daily Mirror reported. Parliament will take a secret ballot on July 20 to elect the new President.

The protesters have demanded, through social media announcements, that Rajapaksa must resign by 1 p.m. on Wednesday and warned that the people would be summoned to Colombo once again if he retracts the promise he has given to quit. A representative of the protesters, who occupied the entrance to the President's House for over three months, has urged public to gather at the main protest site by 1 p.m.

President Rajapaksa had left for the Maldives together with his wife and a bodyguard from the country's main airport in Katunayake, closer to the capital, the officer said, seeking anonymity.

Amid agitation and public storming of his official residence and office on Saturday, the President officially announced that he would quit his post on Wednesday. On Tuesday, three civic rights activists filed a motion to a fundamental rights petition they had filed earlier, seeking court orders preventing three Rajapaksas and former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who are allegedly responsible for ruining of the country's economy, from leaving Sri Lanka.