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Sri Lanka's Jan 6th: Army standing down, presidential palace breached, president AWOL. Sri Lanka Megapost
posted ago by M25WhiteFeather ago by M25WhiteFeather +504 / -0

Hey pepes. M25 here.

Today was one day that restored my pride in my country.

I must admit that I'm surprised by how the non-violence worked.

Since the start of the month the JVP (commies, surprising I know), has been asking for a non-partisan, populist (shape eke^1) demonstration/protest against:

  1. the current president,
  2. the political families,
  3. the cronyist businesses.

At the capital, Colombo, around the presidential palace, parliament, and Colombo in general. People were asked to come from all over the country (take not that this is during a fuel crisis). The date was today (9th of July 2022).

And boy did people deliver.

Timeline (please note, I'm in a far away area and am posting information as I received):

  • The day before police sent out an announcement of a "police" curfew, supposedly to prevent people from. The Bar Association dog-piled on it and announced that there was no provision for this in the police charter and that it was invalid.
  • At morning on the day of the protest, the police "reversed" their fraudulent curfew. People responded as expected: they just waited till the announcement so that no police officer could arrest them on false pretenses. Then carried on their merry way. People climbed on to trucks, on top of trains, and those that couldn't do either walked to Colombo.
  • As people started to arrive in Colombo, the police response was to firing tear-gas. This time how ever, it seems like this time the armed forces were not the usual government lackeys; they intentionally fired tear gas away from crowded areas. Several detachments defected to the side of the protesters. Even before the rest of the protesters arrived, the army realized the situation was "seththa pochi".
  • The protesters finally breached the presidential palace. This went as you expected, everyone had a field day. People jumped into the pool, helped themselves to the food, took a nap in the bedrooms, etc.
  • Officers at the Colombo port posted videos of someone's cargo being hurried onto two Navy cruiser (SLNS Gajabahu and SLNS Sidurala), the cruisers left shortly after that.
  • The current prime minister (most probably a cabal plant) shows signs of being nervous, and calls for a party meeting. Gets rebuffed.
  • The protesters occupying the presidential palace call for a press conference and outline their demands.
  • The government mouthpieces in media, Hiru TV and Derana TV, begin reporting on the breaching and protests. Anchors seem and sound visibly nervous.
  • People are now surrounding Hiru TV and Derana TV headquarters.
  • Concurrently, sections of the protesters stormed the airports and ports and began warning army officers that "if they get away, we hold you responsible."
  • There are rumors of the president now giving in and resigning (but these are rumors for now).
  • People breach Hiru TV and Derana TV, they have now got a hold of the management and are forcing them to make a live apology to the public for being mouthpieces/misleading the public.

Videos:

Footnotes:

  1. Sinhala (language of the majority ethnicity) word meaning of "kind of".
  2. Tamil (language of the second major ethnicity) word meaning "completely fucked".
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