Colombo 10 August : Protests scheduled by Sri Lankan opposition parties and trade unions have been cancelled, with smaller crowds turning on to celebrate the end of the fourth month of an anti-government protest movement that was launched in the aftermath of the current economic crisis. As opposed to the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up at previous protests, fewer than 2,000 people attended one of the main rally venues in Colombo on Tuesday afternoon, according to police.
At a protest in front of the Presidential office, where protesters have been camping for the last four months, just 150 people showed up, according to the news agency dpa.
“The government’s crackdown and the detention of protesters who are against the government could have deterred people from coming out to protest,” one of the protesters said.
The president Ranil Wickremesinghe has also taken the wind out of the protesters in the sails of the protesters by addressing shortages of fuel and gas and restoring a belief of peace and stability in the political arena, even though Sri Lanka remains under a state of emergency.
Wickremesinghe was elected to the post in an parliamentary vote on July 20 following the departure of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.
Over 100 protesters including those who stormed the offices and homes of Sri Lanka’s most powerful officials were arrested so far.
A frenzied economic crisis, the most severe since the nation gained its independence in 1948, caused turmoil over fuel, gas and food shortages.
Protesters began to gather outside the presidential office on the 9th of April.
On May 9th the the former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned and on June 9,, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa resigned.
Protesters encroach on the former President’s official residence on the 9th of July and forced him to resign.
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