In France, the Sri Lankan diaspora closely observes the political crisis in their country of origin
Audio 01:16
People visit the president's house the day after protesters entered the building, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 10, 2022. REUTERS - DINUKA LIYANAWATTE
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
More than 8,000 kilometers from Colombo and Sri Lanka, the political situation is causing the diaspora to react.
In France, there would be around 60,000 Sri Lankans, mostly from the Tamil ethnic group, a minority in Sri Lanka.
Report to meet the Sri Lankans of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, who all follow the political situation in the country very closely.
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The video of the invasion of the presidential palace in Colombo by a crowd of demonstrators, Inthujan discovered it when he woke up on Instagram, he has been in France for 10 years and is studying computer science.
On social networks, he informs himself and supports the movement, he explains at the microphone of
Stéphane Duguet
: "
social networks, it's really a power in fact, we can do something with social networks, we share as much as possible, everyone is watching, my French friends, my foreign friends, they also share, all countries in fact.
»
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by ⭐ (@__.sitare.___)
In a Sri Lankan grocery store, Loges collects customers.
He is Tamil and has just returned from the country where he regularly goes to see his mother.
According to him, this crisis allows the Sinhalese to understand the suffering of the Tamils: “
We are happy that it is happening like this, because we have lived worse than that, so now the Sinhalese will understand what the difficulty is. like that.
»
Tamils have been the victims of many massacres by the Sri Lankan government.
Jude Rathavan is a translator, interpreter.
He fled his homeland when he was 15, a trauma no amount of regime change can undo.
He recalls: “
In 1984, I was in an English school which was burnt down, set on fire by the Sri Lankan army.
That day, I said to myself that it was no longer my country, this wound is still too fresh, even if this wound heals, I don't think I will go back there.
»
He is pessimistic about the sequence of events and even doubts the official resignation of President Rajapaksa.
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To read also:
Return to relative calm in Sri Lanka, but the situation remains uncertain
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