The protesters declared that they will continue their fight. Father Jeevantha Peiris: “We are not going to move from here, there has to be a change on all fronts.” The new head of state threatened to use force.
Colombo () – Former Prime Minister and new President Ranil Wickremesinghe was never an option for the people of Sri Lanka. He was prime minister six times and today he was sworn in before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, but the population considers that he protects the Rajapaksa family instead of launching an investigation against him and revealed the discontent and disappointment of him.
The protesters declared that they will continue their struggle: “The government has promised many things. But so far it has done nothing. That is why we will not move from here,” some people who have spent more than 100 days in front of the Presidency Secretariat explained to . . “We do not believe that the problems of this country have been solved with the removal of Gotabaya,” said Father Jeevantha Peiris. “Our people are still forced to stand in long lines to buy gasoline and die in those lines. Children die of malnutrition. Thousands of people struggle between life and death without medication. This is how innocent people lose their lives in our country. There needs to be political, social and economic change to find a solution to this situation.”
Father Peiris believes that Wickremesinghe is not the right person to lead Sri Lanka: “He has already been prime minister six times and failed so many times, he cannot bring about the change we hope for. For that there has to be a change of system -continued the religious-, therefore, we do not accept the appointment of Wickremesinghe and we ask that the People’s Council that we have proposed in our demands be instituted”.
“We thought that at least this time the parliamentarians would support the people. But they acted against it. Therefore, the people remain united in this place of struggle in a new way, with a new energy,” the priest concluded.
Sister Deepa Fernando, from the Sagrada Familia congregation and an activist for social justice, told that the current Parliament does not represent the population: “These officials were already rejected by the people more than three months ago,” she says in reference to the demonstrations against the government and against the increase in the cost of living. “The sacrifice of young people and thousands of people was not taken seriously by parliamentarians. They demonstrate once again that their main objective is to remain in power, protecting their misdeeds, positions and privileges. This is a clear manifestation of the distorted politics of Sri Lanka”, added the nun.
For his part, the new president told the media that “If they try to overthrow the government or occupy the office of the president and the prime minister, that is not democracy, it is against the law. We will not allow a minority of protesters to repress the aspirations of the silent majority calling for a change in the political system”. In recent days Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as prime minister, had declared a state of emergency and had described the protesters as “fascists”, implying that he did not would have no problem suppressing the protests.
Sri Lanka is experiencing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. In April the island country announced default and declared its insolvency of a debt that exceeds 50,000 million dollars. For months the country has not been able to import fuel and inflation is above 54%, which prevents citizens from buying basic necessities, especially food and medicine.
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