Sri Lanka Protest Movement Completes 100 Days: A Look At The Timeline

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s protest movement reached its 100th day on Sunday. After having forced one president from office, protestors are now turning their sights on his successor as the country’s economic crisis continues. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his palace shortly before demonstrators invaded it last weekend and on Thursday resigned from the presidency. Protestors blamed his government’s mismanagement for Sri Lanka’s financial turmoil, which has forced the island nation’s 22 million people to endure shortages of food, fuel and medicines since late last year.Also Read – Sri Lanka Crisis: Potato Over Rs 400 Per KG, Onion Crosses Rs 300! Exorbitant Prices of Eatables in Country Will Shock You

It’s been 100 days since it started. There had been many ornamental achievements but it’s still far from any concrete change in the system.#lja #SriLanka #GoHomeRanil #NotMyPresident #RanilGoHome #අරගලයටජය pic.twitter.com/aHgexBUlNv

— Prasad Welikumbura (@Welikumbura) July 17, 2022

Also Read – Sri Lanka Introduces Fuel Rationing Scheme To Combat Economic Crisis

Timeline of Sri Lanka’s Protest Movement Against Economic Crisis:

• Sri Lanka was hit by a series of economic headwinds in early 2020, including the coronavirus pandemic. The county closed its borders to tourists for nearly a year and a half when the pandemic hit, which devastated the tourism industry and deprived the nation of much-needed revenue.
• The Island nation banned fertilizers the next year in hopes of turning the country toward organic farming. The move batters harvests and leads to fears of food shortages. While the misguided policy was lifted after seven months, the damage is already done.
• Sri Lanka’s central bank started printing money to paper over the holes in its balance sheet, sending inflation to a record high, according to a report by New York Times. As per the report, the finance minister begged neighbors for credit lines to buy diesel fuel and milk powder. The government also stated rationing power.
• The situation got increasingly desperate. China — which in past years has bankrolled many of Sri Lanka’s major infrastructure projects with loans — keeps its distance. India, a longtime patron, has already provided USD 4 billion in credit and loans, which Sri Lanka has burned through.
• Sri Lanka suspended payments on its international debt in April 2022, effectively putting the small island nation in default as it plunges deeper into an economic crisis.
• The campaign to oust Rajapaksa, organised mainly through posts on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, drew people from across Sri Lanka’s often unbridgeable ethnic divides, according to a report by news agency AFP.
• United by economic hardships, minority Tamils and Muslims joined the majority Sinhalese to demand the ouster of the once-powerful Rajapaksa clan.
• As the country starts running out of foreign currency, supplies of food, fuel and other supplies dwindle, bringing protesters to the street.
• Demonstrations began as a two-day protest on April 9, when tens of thousands of people set up camp in front of Rajapaksa’s office — a crowd so much larger than the organisers’ expectations that they decided to stay on.
• As protests intensify, demanding that the family dynasty leave government, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa empties his cabinet of family members.
• In May, the prime minister —  Rajapaksa’s elder brother, Mahinda — is forced out and Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as prime minister and quickly begins discussions with the International Monetary Fund on the terms of an economic bailout.
• The government seeks to contain demand for fuel, ordering workers to stay home and introducing new rationing. Schools close in a bid to save fuel.
• On Saturday, protesters take over the president’s residence in Colombo, as Rajapaksa goes into hiding.
• The atmosphere in the capital turns festive after the speaker of Parliament said the president has agreed to resign, as has the prime minister.
• The president submits his resignation by email on Thursday from Singapore, where he traveled after first fleeing to the Maldives. The announcement set off celebrations in Sri Lanka, but the protest movement largely continued as it has for months.

Also Read – Ranil Wickremesinghe Becomes Interim Sri Lankan President