Sri Lanka's president and prime ministers resigned on July 9th, 2022, after angry protesters stormed officials' homes. These protestors became violent after setting fire to buildings. But why are they protesting? What happened to the president during the protests? First, let's look at the facts.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has been in power since 2019, has just recently agreed to step down from power after protestors storm the Sri Lankan presidential residence. To understand why these protestors are so angry and upset, we must dig deep into Sri Lankan History.
There are two main ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist Sinhalese, who make up most of the island nation's population, and the Hindu Tamil, a minority. The two groups have always had tight tensions. The arrival of the Sinhalese to the island is not clear, but what is clear is that the Tamil came second. Perhaps both as invaders and traders.
When the British colonized Sri Lanka, they already had colonies with significant Tamil populations, so the Tamil in Sri Lanka had received special treatment like education, civil opportunities in the British Empire, and economic aid. So naturally, the Sinhalese were quite upset by this unfair treatment, only worsening tensions between the two groups.
After their independence, Sri Lanka was in the hands of the Sinhalese. This angered the Tamils as not only did the Sinhalese have more power and representation in their government. Many "anti-Tamil" acts were enacted, such as the Sinhala Only Act, which made Sinhalese the official language of Sri Lanka, making Tamils try to survive in government have a hard time.
All of the oppression against the minorities in Sri Lanka started the Sri Lankan Civil War between 1983-2009. The war was between the Sinhalese government and a Tamil liberation force that sought to create a new nation separate from the Sinhalese. By the end of it, the Sri Lankan government won.
That leads us into today's world.
The Sri Lankan people have not well accepted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa since he was elected in 2019. During the elections, many Tamils were not amiable to the idea of a Sinhalese president, although Muslims were split on the matter. Some Muslims saw him as a man who could protect the Muslims from anti-Muslim sentiments, while others saw the opposite.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Rajapaksa did not close the country in March, saying, "Even during the 30-year war, during the tenure of the Rajapaksa government, we did not take any decision to loc-down cities or the country."
"...never in Sri Lanka's history have we had a food crisis."
In 2021, Rajapaksa told the country to switch to organic farming immediately, banning chemical fertilizers Farmers that year or in 2022 could not grow any crops. One farmer had said, "...never in Sri Lanka's history have we had a food crisis."
Let's talk income.
Sri Lanka's leading sources of income are tourism and mainly agricultural exports. However, COVID-19 had made tourism mostly stop, and Rajapaksa's fertilizer ban made agricultural exports impossible to continue.
The economic crisis, the Russo-Ukraine war's effect on high oil prices, and the poor agriculture made Sri Lankans angry, protested, and stormed officials' buildings. Police had attempted to keep protestors away from the presidential residence, but thousands of raging protestors broke through the police and stormed the capital.
President Rajapaksa's location was unknown, while rioters burned the Prime Minister's private residence.
While they stormed the Presidential residence, many protestors decided to swim in his pool.
The pressure that all the protestors put on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made him say that he would resign on July 13th. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he was willing to surrender his power but had not yet submitted a resignation letter.
Stay tuned for further news on this matter.
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