Gotabaya Rajapaka officially resigned from the presidency, Thursday, July 14. Portrait of the demonstrators who dropped the most powerful man in the country in three months.
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The Sri-Lankan national anthem resonates on the camp of demonstrators, installed in front of the presidency offices, Friday July 15. In less than a hundred days, a citizen movement will have been right for the most powerful man in Sri Lanka. At the end of a succession of spectacular events and incredible political twists and turns, Gotabaya Rajapaka finally sent his resignation to the President of the Parliament, Thursday, July 14, since his exile in Singapore.
Anticipating the formalization of their victory, the protesters had decided, in the morning, to peacefully leave the various places of power invested for several days. All smiles in their black t-shirts stamped with their slogan “Gota Va’en”, in reference to the diminutive of Gotabaya Rajapaka, the last occupants of the presidential palace took the pose for a final photo. They farewell to the police, before crossing the emblematic place portal one last time, their speakers and megaphones under their arm.
“The occupation was a symbolic action, we wanted to show that the president no longer had power,” said Sanka Jayasekara. This nice bearded man was on the front line, Saturday July 9. Alongside tens of thousands of demonstrators, he faced the police soon overwhelmed, allowing the crowd to force the passage inside the presidential palace, while Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to run away. The palace, now in the hands of the population, Sanka Jayasekara will be addressed to the press from the desk usually reserved for the Head of State.
At 28 years old, he is one of the multiple faces of Aragalaya (struggle, in the snowfall), name given to the movement which had been asking for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaka for months. The spontaneous rally, born in early April, says he does not have a leader and does not claim any political party.
“We are ordinary citizens and we have shown other ordinary citizens that power is the people and not to the king. We are happy to leave now,” says Sanka Jayasekara, who had never participated in a demonstration before April 9, 2022. On this date, tens of thousands of people had gathered in the streets of Colombo. Since then, many protesters camp in front of the presidential office, on the iconic colombo seafront. A site baptized with humor the “Gota Go Gama”, the village of the departure of Gota.
Sanka Jayasekara, who works for a life insurance company, was not a revolutionary. But when he saw “people die in queues”, he decided to beat the pavement. For months, Sri Lankans have lived to the rhythm of electricity cuts and fuel shortages, forcing them to queue for several days in a row in service stations. At least sixteen people died in these endless human queues, according to a statement by demonstrators.
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