At Galle, street chorus: ‘Call for new Lanka, new innings’

By around 10.40 am on Saturday, the people of Galle had “reclaimed” their fort. For days now, they’d been denied access to one of world cricket’s most iconic vantage points whenever a Test match is on. It was the Sri Lankan government’s ploy to avoid any images of people protesting against their leaders being transmitted around the world in the background of the cricket broadcast. The locals saw it as the latest case of their freedom being suppressed.

Marching through the arched tunnel and up the historic Galle Fort walls during the first session of the second day’s play, they weren’t going to be stopped. This time, neither the police nor the military, who had been put in place to guard the fort, were prepared to come in their way. And they occupied the entirety of the wall overlooking the Galle International Stadium, waving flags and banners while chanting and singing that they had regained their freedom.

Ironically, the only reason for a majority of them to still be in Galle was due to the government shutting down public transport to ensure that people from here couldn’t join the massive protest planned in Colombo for Saturday. The minimal availability of fuel supplies and the ban on sale of petrol to private vehicles having already eliminated any other chances of them reaching the capital. So, they decided to come out in huge numbers instead, jumping onto trucks and tractors, from the various southern districts surrounding Galle to this sleepy coastal town, to make some noise.

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By midday, the voice on the street was clear, the people of Sri Lanka had “reclaimed” their country. Or so it seemed, based on the outpouring of joy in the wake of the protesters in Colombo finally storming into the President’s official residence. And, among other things, taking over his swimming pool. More incredible images were to follow, from selfies in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s erstwhile bedroom to others helping themselves to whatever food was left behind in the grand kitchen. It didn’t take too long for them to enter the Presidential Secretariat, which has been the epicentre of the anti-government campaign for nearly three months.

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Back in Galle, the spirits of the ever-burgeoning crowd only kept rising as news continued to percolate about the scenes in Colombo. Not that the mood here was sombre to start with. The excitement seemed to be at fever pitch from the moment the first group of protesters, around 500 or so, marched up to the gates of the Galle stadium and set up an impromptu podium on the boundary wall of the roundabout. It was around the time the Sri Lankan bowlers had begun to take charge of proceedings in the middle with a few quick Australian wickets. From there, they began taking turns to shout out slogans and give speeches, each one as passionate as the next, with the word “aragalaya” (struggle in Sinhalese) being reiterated the most.

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“This is not just a struggle against the government. It is a movement, a call for a new Sri Lanka. And what we’ve seen around the country through these protests is that we are finally ready to come together, get rid of all our ethnic and racial divisions, and start a new innings with the focus on progress,” says Damith, one of the organisers on duty.

“The south is the Rajapaksa mainland. So to see so many thousands come from this region to voice their angst openly against that family is a sign of how united Sri Lanka has become, ironically due to the way those people have ruined this country,” Isuru, a farmer who walked for three hours to get to the protest, adds.

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While the crowd was made up of people of all ages and backgrounds, the speakers represented every facet of Sri Lankan society. From teachers to labourers to nurses to even a Buddhist monk. Most of the banners carried similar messages, from asking for the ouster of the President to thanking the Australian cricket team for being here. There were some witty ones too, like the one with the Rajapaksa family representing the characters of Money Heist.

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There were platforms set up on the other end of the road, right outside the Galle Railway Station, where similar speeches continued to ring out through the day. The road in between was used for demonstrations and skits. Any vehicle with any amount of fuel left in the tank was good enough to be a part of it. From auto rickshaws to tractors to jeeps to motorcycles to even a crane. Up and down they went, with people jumping on and off. At one stage, a protester dressed up as the deposed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with his mask to boot, was seen being theatrically slapped and maligned just for effect. Jeeps carrying Sri Lankan flags, meanwhile, continued to do laps around the ground as the cricket continued unabated.

This revolution wasn’t being broadcast on TV though. If you were tuned in to cricket, there’s little chance that you would have spotted any of the thousands assembled right outside the ground. And the DJ at the ground was clearly given the licence to turn up the volume to try and shut out some of the chanting and singing from the protests. They wouldn’t have succeeded though.

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Some of the protesters, those atop the fort walls in particular, did keep an eye on the cricket. But on a day when the Sri Lankan team put on their best show yet in the series, what was happening outside the ground was what mattered.

Bharat Sundaresan is an Adelaide-based cricket writer and commentator currently covering the Australian cricket tour of Sri Lanka in Galle

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