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Democracy lovers join UNP demonstrators, JVP hits out at both leading parties
A large number of civil society members and people with no affiliation to any party, joined the United National Party (UNP) protest rally on October 30 following President Maithripala Sirisena’s controversial decision to remove Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post of Prime Minister and replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The protest rally saw a crowd of roughly 25,000 people take to the streets of Colombo, near the Kollupitiya roundabout. They held placards and asked that the constitution of the country be respected.
A section of the crowd at the JVP rally held on Thursday at Nugegoda. Pic by Amila Gamage.
Although the bulk of the demonstrators were mobilised by the UNP’s area organisers and brought in buses to Colombo, a sizeable number of people from the city came of their own accord. Many of the buses stopped adjacent to Viharamahadevi Park and, from there, UNP protestors marched towards the Liberty roundabout.
The protesters expressed their disgust at the president’s move, which they claimed was contrary to democratic norms and ignored both the constitution and the 2015 presidential mandate.
“We want law and order to prevail; we are here as concerned citizens. No one should be allowed to take our vote and use it as they please, whether it be the UNP, SLFP or the JVP” said a corporate employee. She declined to give her name, claiming that, “We remember what happened to people who voiced their opinions in the recent past”. Indika, from Malabe, claimed the adherence to the constitution is a fundamental right. “If we ignore the constitution, there is no law in the country. We are here to protect the constitution”. He asked that his surname be withheld.
Twenty-nine year old Ashen de Silva from Colombo said he was angered by the betrayal of the people’s mandate in 2015, which explicitly wanted to do away with the authoritarian and family rule of the Rajapaksas.
“I voted for President Sirisena, because I thought he would end the authoritarian years and represent democracy, good governance and freedom. What he did on Friday night was against all three. He has brought back a leader whose regime suppressed essential freedoms,” Mr. De Silva declared. “He has also betrayed the mandate of the supporters of the UNP, JVP, and the other parties that backed him. But, most importantly, he has gone against the supreme law of the country and the very amendment his presidential campaign embodied.”
Another protestor, Tudawe from Kuruwita, voiced concern for the future. “We have to fight for democracy,” he ueged. “If we let democracy fall now, what will we leave behind for our children?” he asked. Meanwhile the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) held a rally on Nov. 1 in Nugegoda.
Under the banner, ‘Let’s defeat conspiracies and build a real public force for the sake of democracy’, lecturers from the universities of Colombo, Kelaniya and Sri Jayewardenepura, together with representatives of civil organisations, joined the JVP leaders on stage to address a crowd of about 4,000.
Although all the speakers on stage denounced President Sirisena’s decision to appoint Mr. Rajapaksa to the Prime Minister’s post unconstitutionally and undemocratically, the Wickremesinghe-led UNP, in its turn, wasn’t spared eaither. “What are these theatrics going on since Friday night? Our democracy, the peoples mandate, people’s representatives, our parliament, the presidency and premiership have been tainted,” said JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanaike. He claimed that what happened on Friday (26th) night was a conspiracy and conspiracies must be defeated. He called for the formation of a broad coalition to protect democracy. “We the JVP can’t do it alone, we need the support of all of you,” he said.
The JVP leader pulled no punches when laying the blame for the current state of affairs. He pointed out that Mr. Rajapaksa and Mr. Wickremesinghe had all betrayed democracy and made a mockery of the democratic processes.
The JVP leader pointed out that the turn of events was in the making for some time. He claimed that Mr. Rajapaksa had disregarded the constitution by illegally removing Shirani Bandaranayke from the post of Chief Justice. Similarly, Mr. Wickremesinghe had not followed due process laid down by the constitution when he signed the Singapore Free Trade Agreement,” he claimed.
“President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision has divided the country into two camps, the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp and the Ranil Wickremesinghe camp,” said JVP member K.D Lalkantha. “The JVP is in neither of those camps. We are in the camp of democracy, and the UNP and SLFP are in the camp that is against democracy.”
Dr. Dileepa Vithana, a lecturer at the Open University, said that the people should take a stand against the policies of the UNP and SLFP and vote them out.