ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s influential Buddhist monks from three chapters began a starve-to-death protest in Colombo on Thursday, demanding the federal government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down after a sequence of failures.
The protest began two days earlier than the primary protest the place a serious social media marketing campaign is at the moment underway asking most people to affix the protest web site at historic Galle Face close to the president’s official residence.
The monks marched practically 12 km from Wattala, a suburban space, and got here in direction of the Colombo Fort, the place President Rajapaksa has been dwelling since April after his personal residence was surrounded by the general public.
Nonetheless, the protest was stopped by a court docket order.
An EconomyNext reporter witnessed round 100 monks be part of the protest.
“Regardless of the gasoline disaster, monks from everywhere in the nation have gathered right here, “Ulapane Sumangala Thero, addressing the protest mentioned.
He mentioned it was monks’ responsibility all through historical past to guard the nation.
“So don’t carry these court docket orders and attempt to cease us.”
Nonetheless, Rajapaksa has did not run the nation as anticipated and the financial system has collapsed with the nation of twenty-two million folks is struggling with out key necessities like gasoline, cooking gasoline, and kerosene oil amid an acute scarcity of {dollars}.
Political analysts say most Buddhist monks are rising in opposition to Rajapaksa to stop public anger in direction of them for backing Rajapaksa whereas alienating minority Muslims and Tamils.
Sumangala Thero mentioned the President who boasted about being a Buddhist and having the assist of the Buddhist monks within the nation now has come to a stage of not even caring a few letter from the influential Buddhist clergies, referring to a letter issued final week asking him to step down.
“That is simply the beginning, this quantity will improve by tomorrow and the approaching day,” he mentioned.
“This struggle is to eradicate the president and the federal government from their positions.”
The protesting monks mentioned the continuing gasoline disaster and stagnation of training of youngsters within the nation will result in an illiterate era sooner or later.
Sri Lanka is dealing with its worst financial disaster in historical past and the Rajapaksa administration’s unhealthy financial insurance policies have aggravated an already looming disaster.
At present with the foreign exchange scarcity has resulted in gasoline, drugs and gasoline scarcity. Many companies have shut down companies and plenty of industries are on the verge of collapsing.
The Gota Go Residence protest, an agitation began to oust Rajapaksa, is constant for the third month in a non-violent means.
Nonetheless, analysts say the protest may develop into violent from Saturday onwards because the agitation is intensifying attributable to failures by the federal government officers to supply fast options for the continuing points within the nation together with the excessive price of meals and hunger. (Colombo/July 7/2022)
