The protest movement in Sri Lanka on Sunday entered its 100e day, the demonstrators who precipitated the fall of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, held responsible for the catastrophic economic crisis of the country, now directing their anger on his successor.
Baptized “Aragalaya” (“The struggle”) and largely orchestrated by social networks, the campaign to demand the departure of Rajapaksa began on April 9. Tens of thousands of demonstrators from across the country had set up camp outside the offices of the presidency in the capital, Colombo. The movement was initially supposed to last two days, but the organizers, surprised by the much larger crowd than expected, had decided to maintain the camp indefinitely.
The economic crisis, which results in severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel and electricity, has united in hatred of Rajapaksa and his family clan the Buddhist majority Sinhalese and the Tamil and Muslim minorities, groups hitherto irreconcilable ethnic groups.
On July 9, the crowd stormed the palace of Rajapaksa, who had to flee in haste. A refugee in Singapore, he announced his resignation, which became official on Friday. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the interim head of state who is backed by Rajapaksa’s SLPP party, is seen as the favorite to succeed him when parliament elects a new president on 20 next July.
This was not enough to calm the protesters, who are still camped in front of the presidency, even if their number has decreased since the fall of Rajapaksa. The demonstrators also evacuated the presidential palace, the president’s residence and his office, which they occupied for several days.
“It has started 100 days ago,” one of the most active anti-Rajapaksa activists on the Internet, Prasad Welikumbura, wrote on Twitter on Sunday, demanding that Ranil Wickremesinghe also relinquish power. “But we are still a long way from any change in the system. #GoHomeRanil #NotMyPresident,” he added.
“We are considering with the groups involved in the Aragalaya to direct the campaign against Ranil Wickremesinghe,” a spokesman for the demonstrators in the Colombo camp told Agence France-Presse.
The interim president has ordered the military to do everything possible to maintain order, and police and military reinforcements will be dispatched to the capital on Monday to provide security around parliament ahead of Wednesday’s vote .