Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has departed the Maldives aboard a Saudi Airlines aircraft, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards fled Sri Lanka for the Maldives on Wednesday, only hours before he was supposed to stand down. Protests have erupted over the president's handling of the island nation's greatest economic crisis since its independence in 1948.

According to anonymous Maldives government sources, Rajapaksa took an aircraft on Thursday to Singapore and subsequently to the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told News First that Rajapaksa had yet to submit his resignation. He stated that he has requested that the president submit his resignation, citing the fact that he, too, is under pressure from protestors.

Protests have erupted over the president's handling of the island nation's greatest economic crisis since its independence in 1948.

Abeywardena also stated that the acting President is looking at legal possibilities to force the president to resign if he does not do so of his own volition. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was designated interim president on Wednesday.

Protesters are being asked to vacate government facilities.
Meanwhile, protesters in Colombo said they will leave government buildings but will continue to call for Rajapaksa's resignation, according to AFP.

"We are retreating peacefully from the Presidential Palace, the Presidential Secretariat, and the Prime Minister's Office with immediate effect, but we will continue our battle," a protestor spokeswoman stated.

Earlier, a prominent Buddhist monk, Omalpe Sobitha, asked protestors to return the presidential palace to the government, calling it a national treasure that should be preserved.

Wickremesinghe had asked demonstrators who had invaded his office and other government facilities on Wednesday to leave and cooperate with officials. He had urged security officers to do whatever was required to restore order in a televised address.

At least 84 people were taken to hospitals in the capital after protesters battled with police personnel outside the prime minister's office and at a crossroads leading to the parliament.

Police used tear gas and water cannons on the protestors.