Anti government protest gone silent in Sri Lanka – For now

• A spate of carollers sang to the public from across the Presidential Secretariat’s heavily guarded barriers.
• Sri Lanka awaits an IMF bailout of US$2.9 billion (£2.4 billion).
• Sri Lankans endured extreme shortages of food, fuel, and other essential commodities.

The throngs of protesters that held a zone around the president’s office for months during Sri Lanka‘s greatest economic crisis since independence are long gone.

Instead, a spate of carollers sang to the public from across the Presidential Secretariat’s heavily guarded barriers. The centerpiece of the scene, which included décor, food stalls, and musical performances, was an 80-foot (24-meter) Christmas tree. A big crowd went to the beachside promenade known as Galle Face Green as fireworks ushered in the new year.

All of this was part of a festive zone created by the government as a year-end tourism attraction in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.

But there is little to celebrate for many people who used the site as their “ground zero” for Occupy-style rallies from April to August and demanded their leaders quit.

Food necessities, transportation expenses, and school supplies for children are becoming increasingly costly. And the new year brings significant tax increases that will only add to the suffering.

There is currently “a kind of pseudo-stability,” according to Ms. Arulingam, but locals are under tremendous stress as it becomes more difficult to make a living.

Sri Lankans faced acute shortages

For most of last year, Sri Lankans endured extreme shortages of food, fuel, and other essential commodities as a series of government actions, followed by the pandemic, destroyed the country’s foreign reserves and left it on the verge of bankruptcy. Months of unrest were caused by long fuel lines and power outages, culminating in the storming and occupation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official workplace and apartment in July, compelling him to escape the country.

Six months later, with more agony on the horizon, there have been calls for early elections. Mr. Rajapaksa’s parliament-appointed replacement, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has mainly remained silent, but local government elections are set to take place next month after a one-year wait.

Mr. Wickremesinghe has also cracked down on the anti-government protest movement and its leaders, promising that he will not let “fascists” tear up our constitution.

Father Jeewantha Peiris, a Catholic priest, is one of the protest leaders accused of multiple criminal offenses under PTA, including assault and unlawful assembly. He is fighting back in court against what he deems “baseless claims”.

Parliament betrayal

Parliament “completely deceived” the people when they voted in Mr. Wickremesinghe as president, he writes, referring to the former six-time prime minister as “another offender who had been associated with the corrupt system”.

“The crisis appears to be over, but the underlying problems have not been addressed,” he argues. “Corruption is still prevalent. Malnutrition and pharmaceutical shortages are real challenges. People in need cannot cope with this inflation.”

The state is harassing civilians like him, he asserted, but “until they call to account those who have perpetrated economic abuses and abused human rights, this situation will not be remedied”.

Father Peiris is the parish priest for predominantly Tamil-minority rubber estate workers in the south-central Ratnapura district settlement of Doloswala. He says in succession that governments have neglected Sri Lanka’s poorest and most vulnerable.

When the pandemic hit, he says, villagers fell ill in droves, with no capacity to socially isolate themselves inside their homes and no access to vaccines – and with schools closed, their children suffered with no chance of remote learning.

“Mothers would come to my hut and scream for their malnourished children,” he claims. “As a priest ministering among them, I couldn’t stand by and see them in their daily pain.”

The parishioner, with his black locks and beautiful white cassock, was a regular at the Galle Face Green protests. His message: the country requires a national movement for structural change.

He described it as the first time Sri Lankans united in a struggle for the greater good, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or ideology: “We had no divisions among us and we all felt we were victims.”

“village” with protesters’ demand for Mr. Rajapaksa to step down as president

Camped just across from the Presidential Secretariat, the little community sprouted marches, candlelight vigils, stage performances, and a massive library of donated books, all aimed at increasing political literacy.

It mourned historical crimes in Sri Lanka, held open forums regarding minority tensions, and grew even stronger when government-aligned thugs forcibly laid siege to the location.

However, by July, as demonstrators got increasingly agitated about Mr. Rajapaksa’s unwillingness to step down, the crowds had grown larger and more unruly.

In the days following the storming of the president’s home and office, when Mr. Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and eventually resigned, security forces under his successor’s orders recovered the two buildings and attacked the GotaGoGama protest camp, detaining activists and demolishing their tents.

With many of its prominent players now imprisoned, facing legal action, or being monitored regularly, the so-called “aragalaya” – or people’s struggle in Sinhala – has mostly died away.

“It was a national movement, a vision of what Sri Lanka could be, but the middle class has deserted it, as have the ordinary community groups,” says Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Dr. Saravanamuttu contends that portions of the community, notably older Sri Lankans, see Mr. Wickremesinghe as the best conceivable alternative to save the country’s bankrupt economy, but he must stick to a fair timeframe for local and presidential elections.

“The sooner we have some legitimacy, the better,” he continues. “However, from Ranil’s perspective, he wants to be elected president of this country, so he’s not going to do anything that will be a tremendous rebuke to any government that he leads.”

Sri Lanka awaits an IMF bailout of US$2.9 billion (£2.4 billion)

While Sri Lanka awaits an IMF bailout of US$2.9 billion (£2.4 billion) and finance promises from China and other bilateral creditors, its people will continue to struggle. Dr. Saravanamuttu predicts a new round of major protests shortly, especially in locations outside of Colombo where people are poorer and would be hurt harder by rising food prices and fuel shortages.

“People will come out not for constitutional reform or impunity checked, but because they can’t survive,” he adds. “And that could be more hazardous, since it will be more spontaneous, with a them-versus-us dimension.”

Whatever happens next, says Buwanaka Perera, a 27-year-old social media activist who helped organize the GotaGoGama protests.

“We managed to send Gotabaya home. If people could send him fleeing, and hiding in [army] camps and on islands, there’s no stepping back from that.”

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