Sri Lanka's prime minister resigned on Monday to make way for a unity government to try to find a way out of the country's worst economic crisis in history, but protesters said they also wanted his brother to stand down as president, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's resignation came hours after clashes broke out in Colombo, where supporters of the ruling party stormed an anti-government protest camp and were beaten back by police using tear gas and water cannon.
Ruling party parliamentarian Amarakeerthi Athukorala died after a standoff with anti-government protesters in the town of Nittambuwa near Colombo, a police source told Reuters without giving details.
At least three others were wounded and the area remained tense with dozens of protesters still at the location, the source said.
A nationwide curfew has been imposed, on top of the state of emergency that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa - the prime minister's younger brother - declared last week in the face of escalating protests.
The island nation of 22 million people has suffered prolonged power cuts and shortages of essentials, including fuel, cooking gas and medicines, and the government is left with as little as $50 million of useable foreign reserves.