Tribute was paid yesterday to the two Uthayan employees killed in a gunfire attack at the newspaper’s office in 2006.
Thousands turned up to the Joint Opposition May Day Rally at Galle Face Colombo hosted by Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday. Photographs: Mahinda Rajapaksa Facebook Page Estimates placed the Joint Opposition May Day Rally to have the highest turnout from all the May Day rallies in Colombo, reports Economy Next. Addressing large crowds at the rally Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed the government for potentially allowing the armed forces to be prosecuted through new bills in parliament.
Land protestors at Keppapulavu protested on the main road yesterday for May Day, staging an oppari or lament chorus.
Sri Lanka's latest draft of the Counter Terrorism Act was approved by cabinet last week, despite continuing concerns about serious restrictions to fundamental rights. A widely criticised early draft was amended in another version, however the draft apprived by the cabinet last Tuesday saw some of the controversial sections re-introduced. The draft is thought to have been rushed through in anticipation of a vote at the European Parliament in relation to the granting of GSP+ trade concessions to Sri Lanka. It is unlear which draft was shared with the EU committee responsible for GSP+, however...
Families of the disappeared were joined by Kilinochchi locals and civil society groups for a march on May Day.
Tamil civil society groups in Trincomalee held a rally on May Day, calling for locals’ land and livelihood rights to be restored.
Sri Lanka must fully and rapidly implement its commitments to accountability as laid out in UN Human Rights Council resolutions, the Tamil National Alliance said at its May Day rally.
Media freedom in Sri Lanka remains in a “difficult situation” according to Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index, with the island ranking 141st in the world in their annual listing. The ranking leaves Sri Lanka in the exact same position as last year, behind countries such as Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. Also known as Reporters sans frontiers, the non-government organisation went on to note that attacks on journalists, such as that of Freddy Gamage in June 2016, 2016 “fuelled the doubts of both the public and media freedom defenders”. “The Tamil media, often the...
Labour and civil society groups in Jaffna marked May Day with a rally outside the university today.
After ten years of displacement and over a month of protest, the people of Mullikulam in Mannar set foot again in their lands for the first time on Sunday.