Protesters blow the flame using propane canisters outside the president’s office in Colombo.
A makeshift library set up in the Go Gota Gama village. The library holds thousands of books donated by people.
Discarded water bottles from the protest site is used to create an installation on the promenade of the Galle Face beach. These bottles are sent for recycling subsequently.
Protesters sharing a meal outside their tents at the Go Gota Gama village.
The behaviour of motorists in Sri Lanka is completely different from what it is in India. Sri Lankans follow traffic rules, do not honk unnecessarily and instances of road rage are rare. In Colombo, adding to the peace and quiet of the city is its exceptional cleanliness. The streets are tidy, there is no litter and open spaces like the Galle Face are carpeted with lawns. Sri Lankans, especially the Sinhalese citizens, used to credit President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the beautification of Colombo—a task he executed a few years ago as secretary of urban development in his brother Mahinda’s government.
Unfortunately for the Rajapaksas, a wind of change is blowing across SriLanka. The tranquil beachfronts are being shaken by the deafening honking as Sri Lankans pour out their ire against Gotabaya for “ruining the country’s economy with his wrong policies”. They also blame the Rajapaksa clan for “its nepotism and corruption”. A protest site outside the president’s office has grown from being the venue for occasional street-side agitations to a tented village called Go Gota Gama (gama means village in Sinhala language). Protesters take pictures at the village and upload those on social media with the hashtag #gogotahome, persuading more urban Sri Lankans to join them in a bid to pressure the president to resign. The village now looks like a mix of the farmers’ protest site on the Singhu border in Delhi and the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.
Protests in Colombo have been peaceful so far. That is probably because the protesters are mostly university students, lawyers, artists, religious leaders, academics and NGO activists. But elsewhere in the country, there have been instances of impulsive protesters clashing with police, leading to reprisals including shooting.
After laser beams are used to project anti-government slogans on the president’s office, police cover the projector and use bright lights to mask the slogans.
A traditional Sri Lankan performance to get rid of the evil. Protestors say they want to remove the president who was like an evil to the country.
A family setting up a counter to serve food and other essential items at the Go Gota Gama village.
A ritual at the protest site performed using masks painted with the faces of members of the Rajapaksa family.
A group of youngsters have been sitting by the barricades outside the gates of the president’s secretariat for the past 12 days, calling for Gotabaya’s resignation. Another group collects water bottles and food from those who are willing to donate. Some people have set up tea shops, and bring buns and rolls from their homes to feed the protesters. Moreover, there is a sense of unity in the village. Sri Lankans belonging to different ethnic and religious groups—Sinhalas, Tamils, Muslims and Christians—chant in unison, “Diyo diyo salli diyo (give our money back)” and “Go Gota Go”.
Some of the slogans have created the mood of a carnival. “Kaputu kak kak kak”, a line from an old Sinhala film song, has been modified to mock former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa for a remark on garbage dumping at Seeduwa, a suburb of Negombo city, near the Colombo airport. He said in an interview that the garbage would attract kaputas (crows), which would affect aircraft take offs and landings. Basil’s critics say that although he is an American citizen, his English is not good. Although he gave the interview in English, he used the word kaputa, instead of crow, resulting in much ridicule. “Kaputu kak kak kak, Basil, Basil, Basil,” goes the parody. Those who drive past the village would honk to the rhythm of the song, while children blow toy horns. There are men dressed as crows. And there are puppeteers, folk artists, theatre groups and music bands, who perform with a common aim—to eject Gotabaya from the president’s post.
The pro-Rajapaksa camp initially said the protest movement was nothing more than a “beach party”, where people pitched tents and had fun. But as the protesters continue to remain entrenched, the government is clearly rattled. In a knee-jerk reaction, it even banned toy horns. The protesters are also careful about maintaing the solemn nature of the protests. When a group of transgender people gathered outside the president’s office with a huge Go Gota Home sign and started dancing to the beat of drums, protest organisers tried stopping them, saying it was a serious protest, and not a fun gathering.
Just like the weather in Colombo, the mood at the protest village, too, seems to change ever so quickly.