Protesters at the ongoing Chemmani vigil in Jaffna forcibly removed Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar from the site on Wednesday, rejecting his presence and demanding that he leave immediately.
They departed so quickly that at least three of the delegation - including the Sri Lankan minister - left without their shoes.
The incident occurred as the protest entered its third consecutive day. Demonstrators have gathered at the Chemmani junction since Monday, keeping an anaiya vilakku — an unextinguishable flame — burning in remembrance of those believed to be buried in the mass graves discovered at the site. The protest has drawn families of the disappeared, activists, and youth, calling for international justice and oversight in the ongoing investigation.
As the minister arrived with a delegation that included parliamentarian Rajeevan Jayachandramurthy and Jaffna Municipal Councillor S. Kabilan, he was confronted by protestors, including families of the disappeared. They raised loud slogans demanding their minister’s departure. The group was quickly forced to leave the area.
Tamil families and activists have repeatedly expressed frustration over the role of government officials, accusing successive administrations of inaction and complicity in delaying accountability for mass atrocities. Many protestors view the Chemmani graves as emblematic of the Sri Lankan state’s systemic failures in delivering justice.
The current National People’s Power (NPP) led regime has, like others before it, repeatedly rejected any international accountability mechanism for atrocities committed against the Tamil people.
The protest comes after the discovery of 19 human skeletal remains — including three infants — at the Chemmani burial site earlier this month. The exhumation has reignited calls for international forensic involvement and intensified scrutiny ahead of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s visit to the island.
The minister’s ejection from the protest comes as the UN human rights chief looks set to visit the site today.
