Sri Lankan in living on the island here. For those of you that don't know, Sri Lanka has been going through a month of peaceful protests against the government's (willful and malicious) mismanagement. The call is for the current president, prime-minister, and the entirety of the parliament to resign.
The protesters themselves have three huge protest camps:
- The "GotaGoGama" - the original protest in the capital city in front of the Presidential Secretariat (the former parliament). The name roughly translates to "Gota Go-Home Village". They have been encamped at the area for a month now, with solar-power, libraries, water, toilets, and food (basically everything needed to do a 24x7 protest).
- The "HoruGoGama" - a second protest in front of the entrance to the parliament (surrounded by a moat and accessible by a bridge). The name roughly translates to "Thieves-Go-Home Village". The protest was smaller, but was disbanded after intimidation from dirt-bike special-forces resulted in police restraining said special-forces officers.
- The "MynaGoGama" - a second protest in front of the prime-minister's official residence ("Temple Trees"). The name roughly translates to "Old-Fart Go-Home Village". The protest is smaller and more recent.
Yesterday (May 9th 2022) was absolutely eventful. Prior to the events the president (in his dictator fashion) announced a State of Emergency and cancelled vacations of all military personnel.
On the day of the events the prime-minister (Mahinda Rajapaksha, well loved because he stopped our 30 year civil-war) called over "sympathizers" to "Temple Trees" via multiple buses. After a fiery speech, these "sympathizers" attacked the "MynaGoGama".
The "sympathizers" destroyed the makeshift huts made of scaffolding (a standard method of makeshift huts in SL), destroyed several laptops (the protesters are young university students), and destroyed all the food.
The attacks were meant to provoke the protesters so that the army could move in (previous attempts to infiltrate the protesters failed when the protesters refused to follow the infiltrators), a lot of people were attacked inhumanely, including an incident where a "sympathizer" man attacked a woman savagely. The police did not intervene and were in fact seen giving the "sympathizer" groups an escort to the protest camps. Multiple protesters (over 130 of them) were hospitalized.
Once the "sympathizers" were done with "MynaGoGama" they proceeded to the "GotaGoGama" and began to attack that camp. They were only able to destroy a few tents before being captured by the camp and flung into the Beria Lake (one of the most polluted lakes in the country). The protesters also destroyed several of the vehicles used to transport the "sympathizers" and threw them into the lake.
How did your average Joe/Jane react: They. Did. Not. Like. The. Attack. On. The. Protesters.
After the attack there was a curfew announced "for public safety". The outlying towns and cities weren't going to take it. Civilians setup blockades on every road in every city looking for "sympathizers". Some of them were intercepted and given a beating, some of the vehicles were destroyed and at some areas police and special-forces had to look on as civilians operated construction equipment to destroy vehicles.
In this chaos, multiple residences, businesses, offices and properties owned by those in or related to the ruling party were completely burned and destroyed:
- Ex-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Carlton House in Weeraketiya & Medamulana Walawwa) - (rightly deserved)
- Rajapaksa Family (D. A. Rajapaksa Museum and memorials attacked / destroyed) - (rightly deserved)
- Ex-Minister Vidura Wickramanayake
- Ex-Minister Shehan Semansinghe (Residence)
- Ex-Deputy Speaker Ranjith Siyambalapitiya (Residence)
- Ex-Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena (Office in Kalutara) - (rightly deserved)
- Ex-Minister Johnston Fernando (Offices in Kurunegala & Lillie Street, Colombo) - (rightly deserved)
- Ex-Minister Nimal Lanza (Residence in Negombo)
- Ex-Minister Bandula Gunawardena (Residence in Nugegoda) - (rightly deserved)
- Ex-Minister (Dr.) Ramesh Pathirana (Residence in Galle)
- Ex-Minister Arundhika Fernando (Residence in Wennappuwa)
- Ex-Minister (Professor) Channa Jayasumana (Residence in Anuradhapura)
- MP Prasanna Ranatunga (Residence in Udugampola)
- MP Duminda Dissanayake (Residence) - (rightly deserved)
- MP S. M. Chandrasena (Residence)
- MP Nuwan Athukorala (Residence)
- MP Sahan Pradeep (Residence in Kadawatha)
- MP Siripala Gamlath (Residence in Polonnaruwa)
- MP Kokila Gunawardena (Residence in Meerigama)
- MP Tissa Kutti Arachchi (Residence in Bandarawela)
- MP Chinthaka Mayadunne (Residence & Office in Puttlam)
- MP Anuradha Jayaratne (Office in Gampola)
- MP Gunapala Rathnasekara (Residence in Kurunegala)
- MP Santha Nishantha (Residence)
- MP Anupa Pasqual (Residence in Mathugama)
- MP Akila Saliya Ellawala (Residence in Balangoda)
- Moratuwa Mayor Saman Lal Fernando (Residence)
- Chairman of the Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha (Residence)
- Chairman of the Kotikawatte – Mulleriya Pradeshiya Sabha (Residence)
- Chairman of the Walallawita Pradeshiya Sabha (Residence)
- Chairman of the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha (Residence)
- Mayor of Horana (Residence)
An additional victory was the complete destruction of Gnakka's properties (a hotel and her residence). Gnakka is the "chief-shaman" of the president and most of the Buddhist monks in the country say that she has a demon-assisted hold on the president.
Unfortunately a lot of people have been hurt and have died. One MP was killed along with his driver.
The curfew that only extended to Colombo is now island-wide, and there are reports as I type this that the family of the prime-minister are attempting to use the Air Force to escape the country (presumably to Uganda where they have been moving assets to).
You'll notice that I use the word "sympathizers" in quotes. There's a good reason. Most of these people are poor and destitute; they depend on government hand-outs to survive. A few of the "sympathizers" claimed that they were told their "Samurdhi Muddara" (our version of food stamps) would be invalidated if they didn't come. Most of the sympathizers were drunk and only came to their senses once they got dunked in the polluted lake.
As for the violence and burning. I personally do not condone them; these properties were built using taxpayer money. I'm also suspicious of who is attacking these properties as they could just be false-flags meant to bring the army into action. The dead minister to me seems like someone that actually cares for the people but is prevented from doing his job by everyone else. I'm supposing that he was killed off to prevent information leaking, and to pin the blame on the protesters. Additionally some of the attacked ministers are somewhat sympathetic to the people's problems, so there's the suspicion of false-flags there as well.
All in all, there's no telling how things will go. We may transition into a military junta (the Chief of Army is a Rajapaksha lackey), which will immediately result in a civil-war.
Additional aside: the current president Gothabaya Rajapaksha was a US citizen prior to the election. During the election there was a constitutional problem as to whether a non-Sri Lankan-citizen could even apply for the election (you can't, it automatically makes you ineligible). Prior to the appointment Gothabaya produced "evidence" that he was no longer a citizen of the US (which was shoddy at best). There's rumors that he's been drafted by the CIA/NSA as a plant in Sri Lanka.
More:
- This is made more plausible by the fact that he has completely destroyed our energy independence, and has attempted to make us dependent on "New Fortress Energy" a US corp for all our energy (electricity) needs.
- The usage rights to a British-era oil-storage complex have been sold 98% to India (meaning we have to buy back the oil on our land, on our own property, from India).
- Our country was known as the "granary of the east". We are country of farmers, and were capable of feeding the entire country self-sufficiently. But now we have to purchase rice from India and Myanmar. The ruling government changed the policy for fertilizer from chemical to conventional, resulting in decimation of yield, the oil shortage meant that farmers couldn't process their rice. As a result we're on track to shortages on our staple food, and the remaining food is becoming overpriced, making low-income families starve.
- The power cuts are destroying our IT industry, people are leaving (brain drain) and when that happens, India will be elated to pick up the slack, and our IT industry (which caters to the likes of London Stock Exchange, and Amazon) will be dead in the water with no hope of ever coming back.
Despite the turbulence, I welcome the change.
Anyone want any more information, feel free to comment.
This board is basically turning into Reddit. Random people from some country you've never been to coming in to give you their personal AMA about some situation you otherwise had no opinion on, and everyone latches on to it and gets behind it without doing any research. How do you know you're not cheering for the wrong thing?
I support the current government in Sri Lanka unless someone can tell me why I shouldn't. Seems like the Sri Lankan dollar has been killing it for years. GDP per capita has dropped very slightly in the last few years but that's true in many places (source). Rajapaksa ended a 30-year civil war in Sri Lanka. Sometimes people protesting about economic problems are not actually protesting because of economic problems. The president shut down the drug trade in Sri Lanka, that's another reason why people don't like him. This is not the first time they have attempted to shut him down or kill him. I personally am not an anarchist and don't support every rebellion everywhere in the world.
My guess is this is the Tamil Tigers stirring this up. There has always been talk of India annexing Sri Lanka, and it wouldn't surprise me if India was supporting the rebels to promote a cooperative Tamil faction in Sri Lanka. Ultimately Sri Lanka has always depended on India for aid anyway, and being part of India would solve problems on both sides.
This is mostly based on like an hour of reading so tell me if I've got any facts wrong.
EDIT: An hour of reading was not enough, please see OP's thoughtful reply below.
No offense taken. The post was made because there were other posts about the topic that were basically one line and people speculating without knowing anything. This was to clear things up.
TBH. Yeah, your idea about looking at different sources is right. And I applaud that.
So did we. Until:
I could go on...
He did. He was loved for that. But he turned around and imprisoned the Field Marshall that led the war. Then continues to use this as clout to bring in his whole family that proceeds to use their nepotism for personal gain. Nirupama Rajapaksha has billions to her name stolen from taxpayers.
The man could have gone down as one of the best presidents in the country but decided to be a moron.
I don't understand what youre trying to say here.
The drug trade has gotten worse under him. The raids are only for show. Rajapakshas have taken over the trade. During Covid we gave away multiple bags of food to people we thought were destitute, onlyo find out that these were drug addicts selling the very bags we gave them for heroin. They sometimes use their kids for more sympathy. In the end we started going to houses instead of giving food bags to people so we could be sure that they werent addicts.
Vinayagamoorthi Muralidharan was a top person in the LTTE. Guess whose party he joine when the war ended? Yes, none other than our MR-led SLFP. Recently Rajapakshas have been working closely with the TNA. And Rajapaksha assets in Malaysia are taken care of by KP.
The LTTE has no chance of ever starting in this country again.
I wouldn't be so sure about the Tamil faction thing, nor abo India actively working to annex us. Do I think they will take advantage of it? Absolutely. Do I think they will annex us? Nope.
Our state of development following infependence far surpassed India, its something that India has not been happy about. Singapore looked at us as a role model. The aid was needed after Indian state intelligence took advantage of a racial situation our idiots started and which the upper class Tamils increased. The LTTE was formed trained and created by the Indian RAW specifically as a means of subverting Sri Lankan soverginity. The LTTE was just upper class Tamils making lower class Tamils poke Sinhalese and start a chain of racial events that they could use to start a civil war in which they woukduse lower-class Tamils.
Most Tamils will tell you about the Sinhala-only act. None will ever talk about the absolute hissy fit the ruling class Tamils made when the government tried to make Tamil a state language (Why? The upper-class Tamils knew Sinhala, Tamil, and English. Make Tamil a state language and it evens the playing between low class Tamils and upper class Tamils. Upper class obviouslt dont like to even think of losing their prestige.)
Did the Sinhalese fall for it? Hook line and sinker. We did horrible shit, they did horrible shit. Its a horrible war.
Not that it matters because the rabid dog that the Indians created bit them in the ass when the LTTE assasinated Rajiv Gandhi.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dV-A9BDd1HY
^ that was what a Sri Lankan soldier was willing to do to the Indian prime-minister. Reconsider your statement.
I'm sorry, but [removed considering you only researched a little] yourself. Sri Lankans would rather die than see themselves be part of the India that has been gleefully destroying it for decades. We're a thorn in their Akhand-Bharat dreams, and they hate us for that.
The part in [this] was just to illustrate how all Sri Lankans would respond to to your statement.
NEVER SUGGEST THIS TO A SRI LANKAN (unless you want to troll them).
A lot. But I did give some answers. Congrats though on doing your own research, it's needed.
However the shitstorm that is our country cant be condensed into an hour of research.
Keep in mind that this thread was made for explaining a former thread made by someone else full of inaccuracies.
Libtards love to call you guys clueless about other countries, pack up on world geopolitics ammo and shut their priveleged asses up.
Also, best wishes for Sri Lanka.