28 March, 2024

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Anger On The Streets During Chinese Defence Minister Visit As Nandasena Regime Bungles Covid-19 Third Wave

A road closure for VVIP movement connected with the visit of the Chinese Defence Minister in Sri Lanka resulted in a spontaneous public protest by motorists who honked loudly from behind a traffic police line, a clear sign that the anger on the streets against the Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa government is mounting less than 18 months into his tenure.

The incident took place at the Marcus Fernando Mawatha round-about in Colombo 07 on Wednesday (28) night.

Video captured of the motorists’ protest has gone viral on social media with citizens recalling that the Yahapalanaya administration suffered similar humiliation soon after the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 which killed 269 people in seven locations in the capital and Batticaloa. At the time, motorists reacted to a convoy carrying then State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardane which resulted in a road closure just days after the bombings that were a result of a serious national security failure.

Sri Lanka is running out of ICU beds and capacity at its government and military run quarantine centers where conditions are being described as “hellish” by those transported there after testing positive for the Corona Virus. Toilets at the facilities are “disgusting” some patients reported and with no medical or support staff available, patients have to check their own temperatures and even see to each other’s oxygen supply and other medications. Worse still, the Government is now reporting that its quarantine centers are at capacity, even as 1451 people tested positive for the corona virus on Wednesday (28), the highest ever number of infections reported in the island.

The country is grappling with the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, after opening up the airport and inviting tourists in. Medical experts say the decision to put the economy ahead of lives was going to cost the country billions. Reopening to tourists and neglecting public health protocols by the Government also invited mutant strains of the virus into the island, that are more resistant to the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Over a million Sri Lankans, mostly in the Western Province and the Colombo District have been vaccinated with a single dose of the AZ vaccine which is not as effective against the British variant of the disease that is dominant in the island now. Public Health experts said the Sputnik and Pfizer vaccines could help Sri Lanka to achieve herd immunity if 85% of its population is vaccinated, but the orders will cost the country billions that it does not have.

Hospitals report that patients coming in with complications from Covid-19 are mostly between 35-60 and many require oxygen and therefore ICU care. The Government and health authorities took no additional steps over the past year to increase ICU capacity in the country. The Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime has also refused to permit those who test positive for the virus and do not need hospitalization or specialized medical attention to quarantine in their homes, putting a major strain on the government run facilities and treatment centers. Faced with dealing with a deadly pandemic in March 2020, President Nandasena Rajapaksa put his health ministry and the Covid-19 task force in the hands of his military generals, sidelining Sri Lankan medical experts and public health authorities who have the capacity and experience to deal with the crisis. The Government also delayed ordering the 14 million vaccines it requires to acquire herd immunity and ultimately relied on India’s generosity which provided 1.2 million doses to inoculate the worst affected district. With vaccine supplies disrupted all over the world, Sri Lanka is struggling to acquire doses to beat back the virus.

President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa received the Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe with much pomp and circumstance on Wednesday. His Government grows ever closer to Beijing as it grapples with a severe debt crisis and a major economic recession.

China recently extended a USD 500 million loan facility to Sri Lanka which propped up the Sri Lankan rupee for 24 hours before it plummeting again to Rs 206 to the US dollar. The Government is determined to artificially prop up the rupee, a move economists have said will only keep draining the country’s rapidly depleting foreign reserves. According to foreign news reports, Beijing was hesitant to provide the loan as multiple rating agencies downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt rating as the island’s foreign reserves dwindled dangerously even as international debt repayments come due in July 2021.

However according to the reports, negotiations with Beijing restarted after the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government agreed to fast-track the Port City Bill which gives sweeping powers to a Commission to run the reclaimed city and a host of tax and legal exemptions critics say will create a parallel administration and create a money laundering hub inside the Port City peninsula. In exchange for USD 500 million as a loan, the Rajapaksa Government also promised to drop a key campaign pledge to renegotiate the lease of the Hambantota port with China Merchant Ports and allow the agreement to stand.

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Latest comments

  • 24
    8

    Chinese spread the virus, its Chinese Virus!

    • 20
      2

      Chinese investment virus is powerful than wuhan virus aka COVID 19.
      .
      Today, nothing is in srilanken air about WESTERN nations, but only about CHINESE as if almost everyone in SL would go after RAJAPKASHES criminals.

    • 19
      3

      Buddhists,
      .
      We must never forget it was china who allowed the situation to get out of hand in wuhan and even months after the virus had spread throughout china the ccp lobbied the WHO to not declare it a pandemic which led to chinese bio-terrorrists carrying the virus all over the world for the chinese new year. By that time 4 months had passed since the virus was first discovered and allowed to spread. It not only should be called the ‘chinese virus’ but china should be made to pay each country for the damage it has caused.

      • 5
        20

        Muslims,
        .
        We must never forget that it was Muslims that murdered hundreds of Christians two Easters ago. We can twist the theories any way we want but the bottom line is that it was Muslims who carried out these barbarous attacks on innocent civilians. What happened to the money collected in Saudi for the victims. Did the Lebbes steal it?

        • 10
          2

          Svenson

          “We must never forget that it was Muslims that murdered hundreds of Christians two Easters ago. “

          Of course we must never forget Christians who were massacred two Easters ago.
          Do you still remember 1958, 1961, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1987- 91, 30 years to 2009, 2013, 2019, ……………………………………………?

        • 9
          2

          Ah yes, mr “tipcut”,
          .
          In your hate fueled rage you seem to missed the obvious, I was addressing ‘buddhist1’ but due to auto correct it is written as “buddhists”. I am not stupid to address all buddhist as I know there are 69 lakh 🐃 buddhists who support the mastermind of the Easter Sunday attack, what’s the point talking to these people. Next time don’t brown nose by writing your hate replies on my comments.

  • 27
    5

    We opened up this country too soon. Our desperation to get revenue from tourists has backfired on us. We are heading for a medical nightmare, and will be like India if the government continues to show its incompetence. The nations that had the worst numbers of infections and deaths, are led by dictators, tyrants, and strong men, like Modi, Bolsonaro, and even Trump, who politicized the pandemic, and despite having time, chose to minimize it, ridiculed it, and called it a left wing hoax. They spent more time playing cover up and politics, rather than prepare the country for this deadly disease. Our vaccination program is a failure, and there seems to be no experienced and competent leader at the helm.

    Remember voters the next time clean streets do not mean efficient government. We have now been cursed by incompetence, racist policies, arrests of political opponents, corruption, chunks of this island being sold to foreign countries, erosion of democratic laws, and our lives are in danger. Those who were unlucky to not get vaccinated, stay home and put up with the inconvenience, you will be safer.

  • 6
    27

    Covid is a hoax!
    Satan, his demonic fallen angels and their human freemasons are losing the war in the spirit realms.
    They know it will soon manifest here in the physical.
    So this covid saga was pushed on the earths population in a desperate bid to hold on to power, totally enslave the population and keep the earth in a low vibrational state.
    Coming back to god is now more important than ever before.
    To all the freemasons who are on this website, you better leave those wicked child sacrificing lodges, repent and come back to god before it is too late.
    I personally know a couple of guys who were former freemasons and did this. They are now doing gods work and exposing the masons. They have divine protection and still alive, despite attempts to murder them.

    • 14
      1

      Humble,
      Are your freemason friends available for some building work? I don’t mind them working for free, but the other masons may try to murder them.

      • 3
        1

        OC
        Either you or “humble” writer must educate the readers about Freemasons.
        It is particularly confusing to many readers since the country has sent abroad all its good masons.

        • 2
          0

          SJ,
          People are so free with their hang-ups on CT, but keep them well hidden in real life. I’m sure Humble is a perfectly innocuous accountant or something like that.

          • 0
            1

            OC
            Good one. Thanks.

      • 2
        0

        old codger

        Is Humble an authentic member of Freemasons or a member of American equivalent “Odd Fellows” for sometimes he sound odd.

        PS
        Independent Order of Odd Fellows
        Fraternity

        https://www.messynessychic.com/2020/01/17/237753/

    • 8
      3

      Humble,
      God Bless you!
      You cannot cheat god all the times. You can survive murder attempts but you can’t survive any day without the suffering and pain by the murders you carried out in the name of god.

  • 15
    3

    who ever releasing the video clip must keep in mind police can always find out the drivers involved in this incident by checking the licence number plated of the cars,three wheeler or motorcycle and try to hares them or book them for obstructing the duties of police.ANY THING CAN BE DONE TO TEACH A LESION TO GUYS INVOLVED IN HONKING THE HORNS UNDER CURRENT SITUATION.

  • 13
    1

    What did he bring to donate this time ???? Was SJ, there personally to receive him ??

    • 1
      14

      It it still itching somewhere?

      • 9
        2

        So you were there to receive the messenger of Chinese Emperor. Were you double masked ???

        • 1
          3

          The itch persists?
          Try a Fatwa.

      • 10
        1

        “It it still itching somewhere?”

        Stop scratching.
        Wash your Amude with Dettol regularly.
        Avoid cheap Chinese escorts.
        Eat healthy food, avoid prawn, crab, aubergine, …..
        Have regular bath and clean yourself with medicinal soap (Comba – Khomba)

        • 3
          0

          Native, amazing . You just read my thoughts/mind. I was about to help OUR Chinese mouth piece, advising to check his cr ot ch( can be contagious). I think this guy seems, one of those desperate souls who wanted to be a doctor but did not have capabilities to succeed. Obviously now with full of resentments , very often we see him “playing doctor” to satisfy his self inflated grandiosity.

          • 3
            1

            chiv

            SJ had once contributed enormously to literature, etc in the past although he has inborn tendency to defend, dictators, fascists, Siri Mao, Mao, whatever is in Mao’s red book, whatever Mao did in the interest of HIS own COUNTRY, believes China, Mao, Siri Mao, VP, Pol Pot, China, …. could do no wrong, … a self hating Tamil, has misplaced loyalty towards SLFP, Banda, ……………….. hates Social Democracy and free flow of goods,services, knowledge, technology transfer, etc, proud of Siri Mao’s bogus black market led self sufficiency drive, love to see bread, flour, … queues, .. reminisces his කහට [Kahata] හකුරු ( හකුරු) days.

            He has no problem with Chinese brand of hegemony, capitalism, land grab, …. when it comes to any thing Chinese, he practices a policy of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

            Because of his conditioned mind he is now unable to constructively contribute anything new.

          • 0
            1

            Native medicine seemed to have soothed your itch a little.

  • 16
    3

    In the video you can hear the guy admit he gave his vote to the wannabe extremist buddhist hitler. How these people toot their horns at the new owners of sri lanka and the new masters of the 69 🐃’s.
    .
    A round of applause for the 69 lakh water buffalos !! Cheer for your new chinese masters you mongrels. Don’t think you will be able to remove china easily with your world renowned sinhala buddhist coward tactics of lying and misleading people. There is a reason why ambassadors for the civilized world rushed to meet the opposition amid the visit by the architects of the genocide of +3 million Uighur Muslims. The situation IS that serious.

    • 8
      1

      Rajapakses should understand this is the tip of the iceberg. And two thirds of that is under water. Completely useless.

      • 4
        1

        S
        Icebergs normally have nine tenths under water.
        This may be a silicone foam iceberg?

    • 1
      2

      , you still posting nonsense? Quick to complain about Chinese abuse of Uighurs, totally ignore Muslim abuse of non-Muslims all over the world. Free Muslims from Islam. A religion for savages https://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/cruelty/long.html

  • 9
    3

    There sholud be Jubilation on the streets as Wang Wang has brought Propsperity at the expense of Sovereignty.

    • 9
      1

      Kali,
      Last time I checked, this sovereignty stuff was inedible.

      • 3
        4

        OC
        Sovereignty or not, joy will be restored on CT when the Indian Defence Minister or a representative of the US Defense Secretary visits us.

  • 3
    1

    Author – CT: Please note, this Chinese Defense Minister is NOT a “VVIP”. A “VVIP” is a Head of a Stae like a “President” or a “Prime Minister”. But, our “President” who cannot even make that “Distinction” accorded this Chinese Defense Minister “VVIP” status in providing exit through the “VVIP” section of the Airport. Under normal procedure, this Chinese Defense Minister should have been provided exit through the “VIP” section. How do the other World Leaders view this noticeable change in that “CHANGE” of protocol? There are already “Murmurs” in Foreign Missions and in Social Media levels as to how that “Reception” has brought ‘Discredit” and “Degradation” to the country. Up to now, no other Head of our country has violated this protocol.

  • 2
    3

    much ado about nothing, as the usual service returns

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