"Go home Gota" is the chant being echoed in English, Tamil and Sinhalese on the streets of Sri Lanka.
Its call is demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pack his bags and leave office.
It comes as the country has been plunged into the worst economic crisis since its independence from colonial rule in 1948.
"There's no income, there are no tourists coming in," said Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, from the Disinformation Project.
"It's a cataclysmic failure of government."
Economic blunders and mismanagement have been compounded by the pandemic.
Sri Lankan resident Vinusha Paulraj said the cost of food is doubling every few weeks.
"It used to range from 50 rupees upwards but now you find people paying 100 rupees for a standard loaf of bread which a lot of Sri Lankans never imagined would happen in their lifetime."
People are fainting and four people have died in queues for food, fuel and medical supplies amid shortages.
There are power cuts of up to 15 hours a day and on Tuesday (local time) unions declared a medical emergency.
Earlier this week, as protests grew outside his residence, Rajapaksa issued an emergency order, imposing a 36-hour curfew and temporarily cutting access to social media.
Time stood still as Sri Lankan-New Zealander Suveen Sanis Walgampola and his mother tried to get a hold of loved ones in Sri Lanka.
They, like many around the world, had been planning trips back to the island since travel restrictions had eased in New Zealand.
But it wasn't long till Sri Lankans circumvented the online blackout using VPNs.
The re-routing of IP addresses saw the hashtag #GoHomeGota trend worldwide.
It's angered the diaspora too, who are among those who have added their voices in protest against Rajapaksa. Many around the world have taken to the streets in protest, including people in the United States, Australia, Germany and around New Zealand.
"If it was intended to quell and contain and control dissent it failed spectacularly," Dr Hattotuwa said.
He said social media posts across all platforms in Sri Lanka are going viral at a rate that's never been seen before.
Even the President's nephew, also the minister of digital platforms, condemned the blackout on Twitter - via a VPN.
Protestors are calling for those responsible for economic mismanagement to be held accountable.
"Sri Lanka is not poor, we were not poor, we were robbed," Paulraj said.
She said Sri Lankans fear that those in power have the means of escaping the country and syphoning assets abroad.
Sri Lankan-Kiwis too are signing a petition and are calling for Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta to condemn the actions of the Sri Lankan government.
But Rajapaksa is showing no signs of stepping down and there are fears over what happens next.
