{"id":152922,"date":"2015-11-01T17:02:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T11:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=152922"},"modified":"2015-11-07T10:40:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T05:10:33","slug":"universities-student-protests-too-much-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/universities-student-protests-too-much-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities & Student Protests: Too Much Blood\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yudhanjaya Wijeratne<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yudhanjaya<\/a>

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Sri Lanka has a lot of protests, most of them conducted by local universities. We protest everything \u2013 governments, private education, scholarships, private education, private education\u2026 you get the picture. It seems that every other month there\u2019s a couple of metal barricades and one of them water cannon machines rolling up the road.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had the unfortunate experience of being caught up in a couple of these<\/span><\/a>, and the level of thought gone into these is incredible. Mindless chanters \u2013 check. Coerced students \u2013 check. Placards. Banners onna stick. Firebrands strung at strategic intervals to make sure everyone\u2019s equally involved. There are always university students who, for fear of ragging<\/span><\/a>, temporarily take up the robes of a Buddhist monk: these are generally placed front and center. Give it a couple more years and we\u2019ll have enough expertise to launch a B.A. in Professional Protesting.<\/p>\n

Usually it stops there. Usually people block traffic for a while, or sit on a pavement outside the Colombo Fort Railway Station, and usually bemused-looking cops hang back and hope nobody does anything foolish. Then everybody goes away.<\/p>\n

This time, the excrement made physical contact with the electrically powered oscillating air current distribution device.<\/p>\n