Protest brings Sri Lanka crisis to the boundary’s edge ahead of opening Test

Galle: For all the goodwill surrounding Australia’s tour to Sri Lanka amid the island’s grim economic crisis, a sombre protest outside Galle International Stadium underlines the many contradictions of the hour.

Snaking for several hundred metres around the ground’s southern end, next to the ancient Dutch fort that makes Galle one of cricket’s most picturesque venues, are empty gas bottles.

Gas bottles stacked up in protest around the southern end of Galle cricket stadium.Credit:Daniel Brettig

Some blue, some yellow – the brands of two gas providers, Litro and LAUGFS – they provide a less optimistic representation of the colours of the two competing teams than was seen when thousands of Sri Lankans donned Australian gold to pay tribute to the tourists for the final limited overs match in Colombo last week.

Galle residents have quite deliberately assembled the bottles as a way of indicating their displeasure at the extreme shortages of basic goods that have followed Sri Lanka’s economic collapse.

They have been asked by police to remove them before the Test match begins on Wednesday, but have responded by stating the bottles will not be moved until they can be filled – gas and petrol queues have become a commonplace sight across the country in recent months.

On Monday night, the Sri Lankan government banned the sale of fuel to private vehicles for the next two weeks, citing a diminishing supply of reserves. Only buses, trains, and vehicles used for medical services and transporting food are permitted to refuel.

The protest cuts to the core of one of the series’ dilemmas. While the playing of cricket aids the projection of Sri Lanka as a beautiful getaway for overseas visitors through global broadcast images, some incongruity remains when the needs of the teams, broadcasters, and tourists are lined up against the extreme shortages experienced by the vast majority of the population.

Longer term, food shortages across the country are a source of major concern, with a GoFundMe set up to help pay for urgently needed farm supplies. Without a return to consistent food production across Sri Lanka, there are fears of a catastrophic eventual famine.

Gas bottles assembled behind Galle Stadium.Credit:Daniel Brettig

Blackouts, careful use of generators, and sparsely populated tourist accommodation all provide an illustration of how both image and reality of Sri Lankan economic and political chaos has affected day-to-day, and also warned off many of the cricket visitors that Galle’s hospitality industry had hoped to welcome.

Moreover, there has already been debate about how few visible signs of protest have been present in the vicinity of the cricket. Galle’s gas bottles are, so far, something of an exception.

It remains to be seen how government authorities, cricket administrators, and broadcasters handle their presence. For now, at least, the crippling absence of essential supplies is literally staring them in the face.

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