In Pictures: A day of chaos and violence in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka turned into a battlefield on Monday where seven people were killed and more than 200 injured in a bloody clash between the anti-government protesters and police that prompted Sri Lanka's prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation.

Ruling party parliamentarian Amarakeerthi Athukorala died after a standoff with anti-government protesters in the town of Nittambuwa near Colombo.

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.