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Huge protest demands resignation or election

16 Mar 2022

  • Sajith vows to create mass force to oust President
  • Replica coffins titled ‘Gotabaya’ set alight opposite Prez Secretariat
  • Wipe out Rajapaksa family from politics: Patali
  • Struggle to continue until Govt. resigns: Fonseka
    BY Buddhika Samaraweera Leader of the Opposition and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Sajith Premadasa yesterday (15) demanded that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa either resign or hold a presidential election, at a massive SJB-organised protest which converged outside the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (15). Speaking to the media at the end of the protest outside the Presidential Secretariat, Premadasa said that the country has the potential to overcome the crises situation through a Government led by the SJB. “If this Government, led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa cannot build the country, hand it over to us. We will build the country and show. If the Government cannot resign, hold a presidential election. Then the present leaders will be able to know the opinion of the people,” he noted. The massive protest was held under the slogan “Rata Vinasayi – Iwasuwa Athi (Country Destroyed – Enough with Being Patient)” by the SJB in Colombo yesterday, in what the party described as another step in ousting the “failed” President Rajapaksa and the current SLPP-led Government. More than 15,000 supporters of the SJB who had arrived in Colombo from various parts of the country started the protest march from near the Maligawatta Police Station, and from near the Opposition Leader's office down Marcus Fernando Mawatha in Colombo 7, at around 1 p.m. yesterday. From then on, they marched towards the Presidential Secretariat at Galle Face Green, Colombo Fort. Premadasa joined the rally near the Opposition Leader’s office. The two marches which started from near the Opposition Leader’s office and the Maligawatta Police Station reached the Presidential Secretariat at around 4 p.m. Security was tight around the Presidential Secretariat at the time and the Riot Control Police had also been called in. Several replicas of coffins bearing the inscription “Gotabaya Rajapaksa”, which had been brought by the protestors, were set on fire in front of the entrance gate of the Presidential Secretariat. A heated situation also arose when the protestors attempted to enter the Presidential Secretariat building. Commenting on the current fuel crisis, Premadasa claimed that three countries in the Middle East have already agreed to supply fuel with a two-year grace period for payments to a Government led by the SJB. Speaking further, he said: “Today’s youth and intellectuals are leaving the country in the face of the current crisis. I urge them to think about the country and stay here. The SJB will give a place to educated, intelligent, and talented people in a Government led by us. There are already many Premadasas, Gamini Dissanayakes, Lalith Athulathmudalis, and Ronnie de Mels (Premadasa is a reference to his father the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa while the late Dissanayake, late Athulathmudali, and De Mel were former Cabinet Ministers) in our Parliamentary group. We are working to give them a proper place under a SJB-led Government. In our Government, there would be no nominal ministers who are doing nothing but warming their seats.” Sajith Premadasa emphasised that yesterday’s protest was only the beginning, adding that in the near future, the SJB will create a force that is strong and united in a way that no one can break and one that will not succumb to conspiracies. He added that anyone who has no personal ambitions can join the said force only on the basis of policies. “In a Government led by the SJB, we will eradicate corruption, fraud, and theft. Also, we will definitely work to fulfil the expectations of the people. We will work to give the people the powers of the President, the Premier, the Ministers, and the Parliamentarians. In particular, secret agreements, deals, and betrayals will not be allowed in a SJB-led Government,” claimed Premadasa. Premadasa further claimed that Sri Lanka, which is a prosperous country, has become an “auction land” under the Rajapaksa rule and that the present Government was in the process of selling local resources to foreign countries. He also said that a future SJB Government would regain national pride and nationalism lost through such acts. He also commented on the policies of the present Government. “Today, all communities from top to bottom, including farmers, fishermen, trishaw drivers, small and medium-scale industrialists, and businessmen are helpless. Who has put you in this situation? The answer is the Rajapaksa family and the present Government. This is an arrogant Government that is obsessed with power. They do not understand the heartbeat of the people. They are not ready to listen to the people.” He further said: “Today, we are marking only the beginning. With this mass force, we will continue the drive to oust this Government within the next few weeks. Simply put, we are working to crush this atrocious Rajapaksa Government with all those who are gathered here today, irrespective of any differences.” SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka also spoke to the media during the protest: “Now the people of the country have no food, and the farmer has no fertiliser. The time has come to wipe out the Rajapaksa family from politics. Everyone in this country is now urging the Rajapaksas to go home. There is no point in blaming only Basil Rajapaksa or Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Everybody in the Rajapaksa family is responsible for this, and Mahinda Rajapaksa is the father of the crisis Sri Lanka faces today. So, if they do not go home in the face of these protests, we are ready to take all possible democratic measures to wipe them out of politics.” Meanwhile, commenting to the media during the protest, SJB MP and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said: “We will continue this struggle until the current Government resigns. More than 20,000 people have come to Colombo today to unite to call on this Government to go home. Therefore, it is useless for the government members to just watch these protests. Either they have to address the issues of the people or they have to resign immediately and go home.” SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva stated that although the Opposition and economic experts have pointed out to the Government on several previous occasions regarding how to manage the country’s economy, the Government was acting arbitrarily, without considering any of that. He added that the Government was laughing at the Opposition and experts’ warnings about a potential economic crisis and is now calling for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also said that the President and the Government, who act as if they know everything, have finally made it impossible for the people to live. In November 2021, too, a massive protest under the slogan “Protest against the curse of the Government”, organised by the SJB, was held in Colombo, while certain other related protests were also held in several parts of the country on the same day, in what the party described as the “first step” in ousting the “failed” Government. On that day, busloads of people from various parts of the island had left for Colombo to participate in the main protest but police barricades had been set up along the roads where the Police had diverted several buses and other vehicles carrying these people to the commercial capital. However, there was strong opposition against the Police at such places and the people took action to hold protests in those areas since they were stopped from coming to Colombo.


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