Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down on Monday as violent protests broke out in the capital between his supporters and antigovernmental people.

Officials from the government said the prime minister had handed in his resignation letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday afternoon.

Following the prime minister’s resignation, several cabinet ministers including the health minister also tendered their resignations, officials said.

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During the day, a curfew was imposed in violent clashes among protesters and nearly 80 people have been hospitalized, according to the Colombo National Hospital.

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Sri Lankans have suffered months of blackouts and dire shortages of food, fuel, and medicines in the island’s worst economic crisis since independence, sparking weeks of overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government protests.