Traders join ‘‘Go Home Gota’’ groups not protest, but to sell products
A good trader will always find a niche market for his products regardless of the situation. Things are pretty bad for street vendors and pavement hawkers since ordinary folk suddenly lost their buying power for consumer goods, even essential items.
This forced street vendors to adopt new strategies to make a living. As the country's people are on the streets protesting against the government and demanding the immediate resignation of the President and his government, they too switched to selling products relevant to the protests.
One common rhythmic sound frequently heard on streets these days is ‘ kaputu kaak kaak kaak’-- caused by passing vehicles to express solidarity with protesters.
A street vendor took his business of selling plastic horns to the Galle Face Green hoping for quick business among the protesting crowd.
He was visibly tired of blowing his own horn around the protesting site and finally put up a temporary stand with horns hanging on sticks in front of the iconic colonial building that is modified as the current Presidential Secretariat. A black cloth wrapped around the fences reads in block letters: “Go Home Gota.”