By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe reporting from Mirihana

Angry citizens surrounded Pangiriwatta Mawatha in Mirihana, the road leading to the private residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. By the time the writer reached the location at around 9.45pm yesterday, crowds moving towards Jubilee Post Junction warned us of tear gas being thrown at the crowds.  

 As we moved closer towards Pangiriwatta Mawatha, crowds continued to shout slogans demanding the President to step down from his post. Police and tri-forces continued to use tear gas and water cannons to dispel the protestors as they advanced towards the said lane. The barricades were toppled and the crowd continued to pelt stones towards the lane and after some time a bus belonging to the Army was used to obstructed the lane.   

Despite repeated attacks from tear gas and water cannons the crowds chanted  slogans and many were giving live feeds on respective social media platforms. However, after a while, data signals were jammed. Special Task Force and Army personnel were thereafter deployed but attempts to disperse the crowd, failed.   

People attacked one bus belonging to the Army as it advanced towards Jubilee Post junction while they continued to pelt stones and topple the bus that obstructed Pangiriwatte Mawatha. The crowds eventually set fire to it. As at 12.40am, crowds continued their resistance towards the government, Police and tri-forces personnel despite curfew being declared at several areas in Colombo.