Sri Lanka: several thousand demonstrators in Colombo on the 50th day of the crisis
Demonstrators wave black flags and shout slogans during a demonstration on the 50th day of anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the economic crisis crippling the country, in Colombo on May 28, 2022 AFP - ISHARA S. KODIKARA
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Several thousand Sri Lankans again took to the streets of Colombo this Saturday to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
A less strong mobilization than on May 9th.
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With our special correspondent in Colombo
,
Jelena Tomic
Wearing black and Sri Lankan flags, arms raised and fists clenched, several thousand demonstrators marched in front of the presidency.
This Saturday's march was much less extensive than that of May 9, where tens of thousands of demonstrators marched before being violently repressed by the police, but the movement is not extinguished.
This May 28 marks the 50th day of protest against
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
, a president hated by the demonstrators, rejected by a large part of the population and who refuses to resign.
“
Today we came to celebrate the 50 days of our presence here.
We mainly came to say:
"Gota go away!"
“says a protester.
According to her, the president should not be the only one to leave: “
We have to change the whole system because every day Sri Lanka is getting worse and worse, we are losing everything.
»
“We no longer want to be divided by politicians”
Monks, unions, Tamil minorities, families of victims of the last war… The procession is representative of the diversity and unhealed wounds of the past.
“
Our country is made up of various ethnic groups.
And all of us here believe in unity.
We no longer want to be divided by politicians.
This is what we aspire to.
We want a united country
,” says another.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose brother and Prime Minister Mahinda was forced to resign after the clashes that plagued the movement nearly three weeks ago, turns a deaf ear to protesters' demands.
To provide an answer to the anger, Ranil Wickremesinghe, successor to the post of Prime Minister, also obtained the post of Minister of Finance.
He thus has the heavy task
of getting the country out of the worst economic crisis in its history.
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Sri Lanka
Gotabaya Rajapaksa