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Sri Lanka Protesters Refuse to Leave President, PM Residences Until the Two Men Quit

July 12, 2022

 

Anti-government protesters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, swim in a pool at the president’s official residence after storming in on Saturday, July 9, 2022	Sri Lankan protesters, July 10, 2022 daily mirror

 

GR still in the country, meets defence leaders

Daily Mirror of Sri Lanka, 11 July 2022

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country and met the tri force commanders today morning, the Daily Mirror learns.

Rajapaksa who was aboard a naval vessel within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka following the July 9 protest, returned back to land today and met the tri force commanders and Chief of Defense staff in the morning.

Rajapaksa will resign from the Presidency on July 13 and will leave for overseas later this week. (Jamila Husain)

Sri Lanka protesters refuse to leave president, PM residences until the men quit

Sri Lanka’s opposition parties were due to meet Sunday to agree on a new government the day after president and prime minister offered to resign ‘The president has to resign, the prime minister has to resign and the government has to go’, said a protest leader

Associated Press Reutersand Agence France-Presse

SCMP, 10 Jul, 2022

Leaders of Sri Lanka’s protest movement said on Sunday they would occupy the residences of the president and prime minister until they finally quit office, the day after the two men agreed to resign, leaving the country in political limbo.

Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties were meeting to agree on a new government after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, which saw protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s economic crisis.

“The president (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) has to resign, the prime minister (Ranil Wickremesinghe) has to resign and the government has to go,” playwright Ruwanthie de Chickera told a news conference at the main protest site in Colombo on Sunday.

Flanked by other leaders helping coordinate the movement against the government, she said the crowds would not move out of the official residences until then.

The president’s whereabouts were unknown Sunday, although some reports said he was taking refuge on a vessel offshore, but a statement from his office said he ordered officials to start immediate distribution of a cooking gas consignment to the public, suggesting he was still at work.

A man holds shirts belonging to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa inside the president’s house after demonstrators entered the building. Photo: Reuters

Amazed ordinary folk took the opportunity to tour the colonial-era presidential palace. Security forces, some with rifles, stood outside the compound but did not stop people from going in.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday that he would leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would step down on Wednesday.

Among those taking a look in the palace was 61-year-old handkerchief seller B.M. Chandrawathi, who entered with her daughter and grandchildren. “I’ve never seen a place like this in my life,” she said.

“They enjoyed super luxury while we suffered. We were hoodwinked.”

Opposition lawmaker M. A. Sumanthiran said all opposition parties combined could easily muster the 113 members needed to show a majority in parliament, at which point they will request Rajapaksa to install the new government and then resign. He said the parties hoped to reach consensus on Sunday.

People in Sri Lanka rest inside the Prime Minister’s residence on Sunday, the day after demonstrators entered the building, amid the country’s economic crisis. Photo: Reuters

Pressure on both men grew as the economic meltdown set off acute shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to obtain food, fuel and other necessities.

If both president and prime minister resign, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena will take over as temporary president, according to the constitution.

Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in an effort to solve the shortages and start economic recovery.

Wickremesinghe had been part of crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout programme and with the World Food programme to face a predicted food crisis. The government must submit a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Russia’s restriction on Ukrainian grain exports may have contributed to Sri Lanka’s turmoil and voiced fear it could spur other crises.

“We’re seeing the impact of this Russian aggression playing out everywhere. It may have contributed to the situation in Sri Lanka; we’re concerned about the implications around the world,” Blinken told reporters in Thailand.

Sri Lanka protests met with tear gas and water cannons, as country on the brink of collapse

Analysts say it is doubtful any new leader could do more in Sri Lanka than what Wickremesinghe had been doing. His government’s efforts showed promise, with much-needed fertiliser for next season’s cultivation and a first consignment of cooking gas orders arriving on Sunday.

“This kind of unrest could create confusion among international organisations like the IMF and the World Bank,” said political analyst Ranga Kalansooriya.

He said while Wickremesinghe was working in the right direction, his administration’s weakness was not implementing a long-term plan to go with its focus on solving day-to-day problems.

Wickremesinghe said on Saturday it was not proper for him to leave without a government in place as there was “a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food programme coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF”.

“Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government.”

Thousands of protesters entered Colombo on Saturday and swarmed into Rajapaksa’s fortified residence. Crowds of people splashed in the pool and lounged on beds. Some made tea or used the gym.

Even though both Wickremesinghe and Abeywardena said they had spoken with the president, they did not say anything about his whereabouts.

The country is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the IMF. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.

Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to US$51 billion, of which it must repay US$28 billion by the end of 2027.

Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption. The president’s older brother resigned as prime minister in May after protests saw him seek safety at a naval base.

Sri Lanka protesters refuse to leave president, PM residences until the men quit | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)

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How a band of activists helped bring down Sri Lanka's government

By Devjyot Ghoshal  and Uditha Jayasinghe

Summary

Core group of activists rallied thousands to demonstrate The push revived a flagging nationwide protest movement Huge crowds descended on Colombo, occupied government buildings President, prime minister agree to resign after dramatic scenes Country in midst of unprecedented economic crisis

COLOMBO, July 11, 2022 (Reuters) -

In June, a few dozen activists started meeting regularly at a seaside tented camp in Colombo for hours-long sessions to think up ways to revive Sri Lanka's flagging protest movement.

The group, which included a Catholic priest, a digital strategist and a popular playwright, succeeded beyond their wildest hopes.

Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Colombo. After initially clashing with police, protesters occupied key government buildings and residences, forcing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his prime minister to promise to step down.

"I'm still trying to process it," said Chameera Dedduwage, a digital strategist at a major advertising firm who became part of the team that helped organise the uprising.

"It was 50 percent premeditation and coordination, another 30 percent willingness of the people and 20 percent luck."

In interviews, veterans of those small meetings described how they agreed on a multi-pronged campaign to inject new life into the movement widely known as "Aragalaya", or "struggle" in Sinhala.

The movement had begun in March, when thousands took to the streets to vent their anger at lengthy power cuts and spiralling prices, and to call for the Rajapaksa family that had dominated the country's politics for much of the last 20 years to leave power.

On May 9, Rajapaksa's elder brother Mahinda - president from 2005-2015 and at that time serving as prime minister - had stepped down. On June 9, younger brother Basil had quit as a lawmaker.

So, the Aragalaya activists targeted July 9 as the day they hoped to unseat the president himself.

A plan emerged to combine online agitation, meetings with political parties, labour unions and student groups and door-to-door campaigning to get enough people back on the streets for a final push, according to the three attendees.

Public frustration at ongoing shortages, which has brought the economy to a standstill, and the president's stubborn refusal to step aside, had been simmering for weeks.

Riding on trains, buses, lorries and bicycles, or simply walking, huge crowds converged on Colombo on Saturday, outnumbering security forces deployed to protect government buildings and upending Sri Lankan politics.

"Gota Go Home!" the crowds chanted in Colombo's Fort area, seething over the country's worst economic crisis since independence.

They quickly broke into the president's colonial-era house, before storming a portion of the presidential office and entering the prime minister's official residence 2.5 km (1.6 miles) away.

Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been moved to undisclosed safe locations, and within hours they separately announced they would resign to allow an all-party interim government to take over.

If he resigns on Wednesday as promised, Rajapaksa, once a war hero who was both revered and feared, will become the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit. read more

"I think it is the most unprecedented gathering in this country. Full stop," Ruwanthie de Chickera, a playwright who is part of the core group of Aragalaya activists, told Reuters.

Representatives of the president and prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the protests and why they stepped aside. Their whereabouts have not been made public.

'EVERYONE ON BOARD'

Sri Lanka has around 5 million households and 8 million active Facebook accounts, making online outreach an extremely effective way to reach demonstrators, said Dedduwage, the digital strategist.

"Which means basically through Facebook, we can practically reach every corner of the country at no cost," Dedduwage told Reuters, sitting at a tent at "Gota Go Village", the main Colombo protest site that mockingly refers to the president.

Ruwanthie de Chickera, a playwright who is part of the core group of Aragalaya activists, works after demonstrators entered into the President's house and Presidential Secretariat building, following the fleeing of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 11, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

In early July, one of those who received the group's social media messages was Sathya Charith Amaratunge, a marketing professional living in Moratuwa, some 20 km from Colombo, who had taken part in earlier anti-government protests.

The 35-year-old took a poster he received via WhatsApp on July 2 that read "The Country to Colombo, July 9" in Sinhala, and uploaded it on his personal Facebook page.

That night he began preparing a campaign that would eventually see tens of thousands of people join him on a march to Colombo.

Other Aragalaya members reached out directly to opposition political parties, trade unions and student unions, including the influential Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF), in order to bolster support, according to Dedduwage.

One of Sri Lanka's largest student groups, the IUSF has a reputation for its political agitation and clashed with security forces during recent protests, dismantling police barricades amid teargas and water cannon.

The Aragalaya group also asked volunteers to visit thousands of homes across parts of Colombo, including middle-class government housing estates, some within walking distance of the main protest site.

To bring people in from outside the city, activists appealed to more than 30 "Gota Go Village" sites that had sprung up in towns and cities across the country.

Late on July 8, police declared a curfew in several districts around Colombo, which activists said was aimed at stalling the planned protest. Police said the move was to maintain public order. Some core group members swiftly moved to safe houses, fearing arrest.

Jeevanth Peiris, a Catholic priest who is part of the activist group, worried that only a few thousand people would turn up the next day because of the restrictions. Fuel shortages had curtailed transport options for weeks.

"We honestly expected only 10,000 with all these restrictions, all this intimidation," he told Reuters, dressed in a white cassock. "We thought 5,000 to 10,000."

'PEOPLE DIDN'T WANT TO GIVE UP'

Early on July 9, marketing professional Amaratunge said he started off on foot from Moratuwa with around 2,000 fellow protesters, about the size of group he had expected after a week of sharing posts on Facebook and WhatsApp.

It was only when he left his hometown that Amaratunge said he realised how many people wanted to go to Colombo. Many had been angered by the curfew, which the police withdrew early on Saturday.

In multiple Facebook livestreams posted by Amaratunge on Saturday, several hundred people can be seen strolling down the main road to Colombo, some holding the national flag.

By Amaratunge's estimate, tens of thousands eventually joined the march he was on, and reached Colombo's fort area. According to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the crowd there swelled to at least 200,000 people.

Members of the Aragalaya core group said several times that number took part, as wave upon wave of people arrived in Colombo and marched towards the main protest site.

Organisers had roughly calculated that it would take around 10,000 people to overpower personnel guarding each of the four entry points to the president's house, Dedduwage said.

In the early afternoon, after dismantling police barricades and commandeering water cannon, protesters took apart the tall gates guarding the president's house and overwhelmed a large deployment of security forces.

By night, Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe's official residences were occupied by protesters, who uprooted fences outside the presidential secretariat and took over a part of it. Wickremesinghe's personal residence was attacked and a section of it set alight.

Within hours, the leaders were ready to go.

"There were so many elderly, teenagers, youth, women," recalled Peiris, the priest, who said he was part of clashes with police.

"People didn't want to give up, didn't want to withdraw."

Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Peter Graff

How a band of activists helped bring down Sri Lanka's government | Reuters

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