Sri Lanka: Pres. Rajapaksa to resign after palace stormed

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The official attitude of China is not to support any separatism.
When you have your own separatism to take care of, supporting separatism in other regions makes the logic difficult to coherent.

Since the 1980s, China has no longer considered the dissemination of ideology or the consideration of ideology in state relations. (I mean, China itself is no longer communist after this. At least from the perspective of China's left wing.)
Socialist Vietnam is an ally of the United States to contain China. India, if anyone remembers that they are also socialist in theory, the same is true.

China regards the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization (just like many countries in the world).
In 2003, it was recorded that the gunboats of the Tamil Tigers attacked Chinese fishing boats.

...they were in the habit of shooting Tamil fishing boats in order starve their people...

Heinous.
Does this behavior still exist after the civil war?

Ramil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as President of Sri Lanka. Protests have been more muted thus far, but nevertheless the new president has ordered a crackdown on protesters. He's hoping to restore political stability to the nation so that negotiations for an IMF bailout can be concluded.

BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62260678

Appointment of veteran politician comes after security forces clear anti-government protest site in Colombo.

Dinesh Gunawardena has been sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new prime minister, just hours after soldiers and police cleared an anti-government protest site in Colombo.

Gunawardena, a veteran member of the ruling Sri Lanka People’s Front and an ally of the Rajapaksa political family, took the oath of office on Friday before President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elevated to head of state from his role as prime minister by a vote in parliament on Wednesday.

The two men have been schoolmates and friends since the age of three but lead political parties that are diametrically opposed ideologically.

Wickremesinghe, 73, is a free-market champion and a pro-West politician while Gunawardena, 73, is a staunch Sinhala nationalist who believes in socialism and wants greater state control over the economy.

The cabinet is scheduled to be sworn in later on Friday. Heavy security was deployed outside the prime minister’s office during the swearing-in ceremony.

“[Gunawardena] was part of the ruling Rajapaska coalition, so no new face in Sri Lankan politics whatsoever,” said Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Colombo.

There has also been no evidence of the president’s promise to bring new faces and to combine the ruling party with the opposition to create some kind of national unity government, she added.

Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months demanding their leaders resign over an economic crisis that has left the island nation’s 22 million people short of essential items such as medicine, food and fuel.

The protests forced out former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week. His family has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years but public outrage over the economic crisis forced several family members to leave ministry posts earlier in the crisis.

Protest site evicted

Gunawardena’s appointment came several hours after security forces made several arrests and cleared a protest camp near the presidential palace in Colombo, where demonstrators have gathered for the past 104 days.

Sri Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government site, evicting activists in a night-time assault that raised international concern.

Troops wielding batons and armed with automatic assault rifles swooped in on protesters blocking the presidential secretariat.

Hundreds of soldiers and police Special Task Force commandos removed the demonstrators’ barricades outside the sea-front building, while the last remaining protesters on the premises – some still on the steps – were evicted.

By morning, the troops – armed with automatic assault rifles – surrounded the complex and the main roads leading to the area remained cordoned off.

Police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa said the decision to use more than 1,000 soldiers and police to clear the protest camp overnight had been made to allow the president’s office to resume its work again.

“Police and security forces acted to clear protesters occupying the Presidential Secretariat, the main gate and the surroundings,” the police said in a statement.

It added that nine people were arrested, including two injured.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the main body representing lawyers in the country, said at least two lawyers were assaulted when they went to the protest site to offer their counsel. In a statement on Friday, it called for a halt to the “unjustified and disproportionate actions” of armed forces against civilians.

Hundreds of activists demonstrated at a nearby designated protest site against the authorities’ actions, demanding Wickremesinghe resign and dissolve parliament to allow for new elections.

Harindra Fonseka, an activist, told Al Jazeera the forced removal of protesters was an act of “state-sponsored terrorism”.

“We are baffled by that decision because we have clearly communicated to the necessary authorities that we will be removing our presence from this space,” he said.

“Unfortunately they had this disproportionate amount of force – state-sponsored terrorism one would say, or the continuous oppression towards the people of this country. We see that the political elites of the country are trying to sustain the establishment, and they have this facade that they want to do something for this country [and] for the citizens, but that is not the case,” he added.

Father Jeevantha Peiris told Al Jazeera that protesters were assaulted in the middle of the night.

“All of a sudden at midnight, when protesters were sleeping and when they had no knowledge, they [security forces] came and they assaulted, tortured media personnel …they had no idea what’s happening,” said the social activist.

“Some of us, the protesters, were cruelly [assaulted] with iron rods, he added, stressing, however, that they “will not give up”.

“This protest movement is very well organised, with multi-ethnic multi-religious and multi-political ideologies … [We will never stop here, we will continue.”

‘Friend of the people’

Wickremesinghe had warned protesters that occupying state buildings was illegal and that they would be evicted unless they left on their own.

“If you try to topple the government, occupy the president’s office and the prime minister’s office, that is not democracy, it is against the law,” he said.

The new president has also declared a state of emergency that gives sweeping powers to armed forces and allows police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without being charged.

Protesters have accused Wickremesinghe of being a proxy of the former president’s powerful family – a charge he has denied.

“I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas,” he told reporters at the Gangaramaya temple. “I am a friend of the people.”

^ Intriguing. I think Wickremesinghe was prime minister when the Rajapaksas were briefly booted out of government, from 2015–19. If he wanted to investigate them then, he didn't get very far. Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed him PM again this year (his 6th premiership) after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned: many protesters see him as a Rajapaksa ally, but his appointment may also have been an attempt at public appeasement. Wickremesinghe has also been distancing himself from the Rajapaksas lately. I guess we'll see how it all turns out.

Actually I spoke to a Sri lankan person I know and they said he never called for investigations before. Since 1983 when the Sinhalese majority went on a pogrom against the Tamil minority the general Sinhala population have been ultra-nationalist so it would have been impossible for a sinhalese leader to call for Tamil civil rights without being labelled a sellout. Now the tide has turned and the ultra-nationalist Rajapakse family and their allies have been found to have been lining their own pockets, selling Sri lankan assets to the Chinese and caused the countries economy to completely collapse. People are less concerned about flying "lion flags" and more concerned about feeding their children. Good lesson for these stupid people to not dabble in ultra-nationalism.

Our Chinese perspective is - what kind of economic collapse would lead to the unity of different ethnic groups, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus?
Sigh.

I don't follow?

Eventually, people will find that those are class differences. Not ethnicity or belief.
Comrades are more reliable than compatriots.

I think the Sri Lankan civil war is similar to the Rwandan civil war caused by several hundred years of animosity between cultural groups. Both the French and British divided communities by playing one against the other. In Rwanda the French favoured the Tutsi tribe and in Sri Lanka the British favoured the Tamils. The less favoured groups allowed hatred to fester leading to genocide after independence (Tutsi in Rwanda and Tamils in Sri Lanka).

It also applies to ethnic Chinese in some Southeast Asian countries. Although it was later associated with anti communism too.
Some tragedies have deep roots.

Sri Lanka's former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to return to the country from Singapore, a Sri Lankan lawmaker says.

Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Rajapaksa was not in hiding but the date of his return was not known.

The former leader fled Sri Lanka after mass unrest over an economic crisis.

Many protesters say he mishandled the nation's finances, leading to soaring prices of essential goods.

Mr Rajapaksa left Sri Lanka on 13 July for the Maldives, before making his way to Singapore on 14 July.

He submitted his resignation shortly after his arrival, which was formally accepted by the Sri Lankan cabinet on 15 July.

The former president travelled with his wife and two bodyguards. He no longer has legal immunity as a head of state.

Singapore says the ousted president did not ask for political asylum when he arrived.

Mr Rajapaksa had been initially granted a 14-day visa for his stay in Singapore. But that has now been extended another 14 days, Singapore local media reported on Wednesday.

Speculation has since swirled about his possible plans, with some suggesting he might move to the United Arab Emirates.

However Bloomberg quoted an unnamed Sri Lankan official as saying Mr Rajapaksa was keen to return to Colombo.

Then on Tuesday Mr Gunawardena told reporters, "To my knowledge he is expected to come back".

Sri Lankans blame Mr Rajapaksa's administration for their worst economic crisis in decades.

They have been struggling with months of daily power cuts and shortages of basics like fuel, food and medicines.

Mr Rajapaksa has been replaced as president by his close ally Ranil Wickremesinghe - he was voted in by lawmakers last week but is deeply unpopular among Sri Lankans.

The prodigal son is returning – former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reportedly coming back to Sri Lanka:

BBC News: Gotabaya Rajapaksa expected to return to country, official says
Singapore says the ousted president did not ask for political asylum when he arrived.

Mr Rajapaksa had been initially granted a 14-day visa for his stay in Singapore. But that has now been extended another 14 days, Singapore local media reported on Wednesday.
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