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Protestors to vacate Presidential Secretariat in ‘strategic step back’

22 Jul 2022

  • Giving new President time to show colours
  • No more ‘No Deal Gama’ either
By Dinitha Rathnayake Protestors at the centre of the “aragalaya” (struggle) movement have decided to take what they term a “strategic step back” to have a reasonable period to assess the Government’s performance and plans, and, as part of this shift, has decided to hand over the Presidential Secretariat it occupies to the authorities today (21), The Morning learnt The decision was arrived at during a meeting held yesterday evening between the leading figures of the movement. Accordingly, the protestors will clean up and hand over the Presidential Secretariat in the afternoon, and were seen removing the banners and placards from the premises yesterday. The “GotaGoGama” and the “RanilGoGama” sites at Galle Face and Temple Trees, respectively, saw very few people yesterday, in contrast to the hordes of people who were seen in and around them over the past couple of weeks. Meanwhile, protestors also removed the “No Deal Gama” protest site that was set up near the Prime Minister’s official residence, the Temple Trees, in Kollupitiya. The “No Deal Gama” was set up by the protestors after United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed Prime Minister in May 2022.  “We are giving the new President one or two months to see what he is going to do for this country. If he does not do what he should do, we swear that we will reactivate the ‘aragalaya’ at this exact same location,” Manoj Mudalige a member of the non-partisan struggle’s national movement told journalists yesterday, The “aragalaya” (struggle) at the Galle Face, which was formerly named “GotaGoGama” for their demand for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, has since been renamed the “RanilGoGama” calling for Wickremesinghe to step down.  


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