2022 Sri Lankan protests

civilian protests against Sri Lankan government in 2022

2022 Sri Lankan protests were a series of protests by many non-partisan protesters, mainly the general public and opposition political parties against the government of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. They believe Rajapaksa is not doing a good job at fixing Sri Lanka's economy which has caused an economic crisis with severe inflation, daily blackouts up to 10–13 hours, a shortage of fuel and many essential items. Many of the protesters want the government run by the Rajapaksa family to resign, and creating new set of qualified democratic rulers.[1][2]

The protesters commonly chanted slogans such as "Go home Gota", ''Go Home Rajapaksas'' and "Gota pissek" (Gota is a lunatic).[3]

The protests have been mainly staged by the general public including teachers, students, doctors, nurses, IT professionals, farmers, lawyers, social activists, sportspersons, engineers, and a few police officers.[4][5]

On 9 July 2022, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced their resignations after protestors storm their homes in Colombo.[6] However, Rajapaksa promised to resign on 13 July, but instead left the country to the Maldives and later Singapore and stayed as president.[7][8] He would officially resign as president on 14 July.[9] On 20 July 2022, Wickremesinghe was elected president.[10]

References change

  1. Dhillon, Amrit (1 April 2022). "Sri Lanka: 50 injured as protesters try to storm president's house amid economic crisis". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  2. "Main opposition SJB to hold mass protest rally in Colombo". NewsWire. 13 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  3. Srinivasan, Meera (4 April 2022). "Opposition reject Gotabaya call to join cabinet amid crisis". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  4. "Sri Lanka's Leaderless Protests". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  5. "Sri Lanka: The protesters". The Indian Express. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  6. "Protestors storm Sri Lanka president's official residence in popular uprising". Economy Next. 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  7. Jayasinghe, Uditha (14 July 2022). "Sri Lanka awaits president's resignation after flight". Reuters. Colombo. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  8. "Sri Lanka's embattled leader leaves Maldives on Saudi plane". Indian Express. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  9. "President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Resigns". Hiru News. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  10. Stepansky, Joseph (20 July 2022). "Sri Lanka live news: Ranil Wickremesinghe elected president". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 20 July 2022.