Thousands of Sri Lankan protesters stormed into the president's official residence in Colombo on Saturday, demanding his resignation as public anger grows over the country's worst economic crisis in seven decades.

Soldiers and police were unable to hold back the crowd of chanting protesters, who also forced their way through heavy metal gates into the finance ministry and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sea-front offices.

A Facebook livestream from inside the president's house showed hundreds of protesters, some draped in the national flag, packing into rooms and corridors.

Video footage showed some of them splashing in the swimming pool while others sat on a four-poster bed and sofas. Some could be seen emptying out a chest of drawers in images that were widely circulated on social media. Here is a collage of stills to recap the day visually:

Header image: Demonstrators protest inside the President's House, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 9. — Reuters