It was not long ago when we noted the absence of food will change things. While Dutch farmers are fighting the government and trying to keep producing food, in Sri Lanka the shortages of food and fuel have reached a boiling point. Angry citizens have taken control of the presidential palace, set fire to the Prime Minister’s house, and overwhelmed government offices.
Fearing for his life, “Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would resign after just two months in office after protesters stormed and occupied the president’s residence and office amid public anger over the country’s deepening sovereign-debt crisis.” (WSJ link)
The U.S. State Department and the ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung, are asking for protestors to remain peaceful as if their hunger is ‘transitory’. However, videos from the country highlight the futility of platitudes amid tens of thousands of angry citizens who are desperate. It is a hot mess that’s likely to surface in other nations quickly.
(Via WSJ) – Braving tear gas and water cannons in the capital, Colombo, protesters—many waving the national flag and wearing helmets—also entered the president’s office on Saturday, in one of the largest antigovernment demonstrations in the country this year.
Television news footage showed large crowds overrunning security barricades before breaching the official residence of President Rajapaksa. Some were later seen taking a dip in the compound’s swimming pool. Videos purportedly filmed by protesters and shared widely on social media showed scores of men rifling through drawers, sitting in chairs and lounging on a four-poster bed inside a bedroom of the residence. One man was shown doing bicep curls in a gym. (more)
The crisis had been building for weeks as the protesting crowds had continued to get larger.
As noted by the Wall Street Journal report, “responding to calls by protest organizers to congregate in Colombo for mass demonstrations this weekend, Sri Lankans from far and wide improvised around acute fuel shortages by piling into semitrailer trucks, trains and overcrowded buses to reach the capital. Some walked miles to join the demonstrations.”
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This next video shows how large the crowd was just before they stormed the buildings.
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There is no way to stop a crowd of this size. I’m not sure how many people are in/around that compound, but it looks like hundreds of thousands.
Violence is not an answer. If you are going to protest, please do so peacefully. And reminding military & police to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so. Chaos & force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now.
— Ambassador Julie Chung (@USAmbSL) July 8, 2022
https://twitter.com/72powpow/status/1545717189575028739
Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million, is the ‘Canary in the Coal Mine’ regarding the world wide economic collapse we are going to see. The debt being carried by these smaller countries cannot be sustained or serviced. Their currency can’t keep up. We have a world wide sovereign debt crisis that is coming home to roost. Get set to see other countries follow Sri Lanka’s example.
This will be a contagion that spreads to larger western countries with similar issues. The EU with obligations of every kind paid for by government including pensions, medical, free education, liberal vacation policy, and now leftist government edicts restricting production, can only lead to economic disaster.
Those in power know this. It’s an obvious strategy to force citizens worldwide into some sort of World Wide socialist order. Sadly, like the millions sheep who line up for dangerous vaccines they know nothing about, this same group will fall into line to be part of this ‘brave new world’.
It truly is Animal Farm ver. 2022.
My Shri lankan neighbor and friend says that the whole gov is corrupt. Many positions are filled with nepotism as the main qualifier. He says the corrupt family has made do many bad deals to enrich themselves it has driven the economy to the brink of collapse and the people who created the problem are just making it worse in a last ditch effort to squeeze what they can out of the people. He’s a great candidate for being a citizen, hard working, decent guy just trying to make it.
Sounds like the USA.
I wonder if the water table is too high in Sri Lanka to be able to build a tunnel system like the Ceausescus had (which they ironically did not use)