Sri Lankan police have again attempted to disrupt a Tamil memorial event in the North-East of the island.

A candlelight memorial was held despite the attempted disruption, to commemorate the 24th anniversary of a massacre committed in Puthukkudiyiruppu near Batticaloa, reported Uthayan.

Seventeen Tamil civilians were hacked to death on September 21, 1990, with Muslim Homeguards and Sri Lankan soldiers suspected to be behind the attack.

Members of parliament and Eastern Provincial Council members from the Tamil National Alliance attended the event at a memorial site for the massacre and condemned the police intervention.

"The attempts by the police to prevent the memorial event is causing trauma to the entire Tamil nation,” they said. 

They further added that “many massacres” had occurred in the Batticaloa district, with “thousands of Tamils killed”.

“Tamils now are living in circumstances where they cannot even remember their dead.”

The TNA officials also pointed out the hypocrisy shown by the Sri Lankan authorities in cracking down on Tamil remembrance events, while allowing Sinhala and Muslim to remembrance events to proceed.

The event was attended by MPs for Batticaloa Pon Selvarasa and P Ariyanenthiran, and Eastern Provincial Council members K Thurairajasingham , Pirasanna Inthirakumar, G Kirusnapillai (Vellimalai), Karunakaram (Jana), Nadarasa and M Rajeswaran, along with members of the public.

Remembrance event for Saththurukondan Massacre halted by court order (10 September 2014)