Sri Lankans are holding their breath. What is their country, where shortages make life impossible, going to tip into now? While President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced on Saturday July 10 that he would step down four days later on Wednesday and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe offered to do the same, neither man has yet officially resigned. . Earlier in the day, Mr. Rajapaksa had been forced to flee his residence in Colombo, the capital, which was overrun by crowds.
After months of protest, the news had a flavor of victory but the demonstrators remain on their guard. “I am very proud of what the people of Sri Lanka have achieved but it is not time for celebrations yet, our leaders could go back on their promise”, tempers Hiranya Cooray, a thirty-year-old from Colombo, reached by telephone. On Saturday, she walked 10 kilometers to take part in the demonstration organized in the Sri Lankan capital.
“Why wait until July 13 to resign? »also wonders Yohan Perera, a human resources consultant who also paraded through the streets of the capital on Saturday. “I think they are trying to buy time and are preparing something”he says, saying the protests will continue until the prime minister and president leave office and a new government is installed.
Major economic and financial crisis
Many citizens continue to occupy the president’s residence and secretariat, as well as the prime minister’s residence, which was burned down the day before. The more daring ensure that they will remain until the effective resignation of the president. Some have already left overnight, on foot or attempting to hitchhike due to the fuel shortage hitting the island. Others are waiting to board the few buses and trains that circulate in the country in order to return home, after the spectacular day on Saturday.
Sri Lanka is going through a major economic and financial crisis and lacks everything. Pushed to the limit by months of deprivation, on Saturday, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans flocked to Colombo to participate in a day of mobilization presented as decisive. They arrived by bus, train, bicycle or on foot, determined to go to the capital to demand, as they have been doing for months, the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. At midday, the demonstrators broke through the police barricades and broke into the palace, then the president’s office and the prime minister’s official residence.
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