Mullivaikkal remembrance week commences in Tamil homeland

Tamils across the North-East marked the first day of Mullivaikkal Remembrance Week with a series of events earlier today, as they commemorated the tens of thousands of Tamils killed by the Sri Lankan state 12 years ago.

The Tamil National People’s Front held events at their offices in Jaffna and Batticaloa, as remembrance events and commemorations are set to take place around the globe to pay tribute to those who were massacred.

In Jaffna, former member of the Northern Provincial Council MK Shivajilingam also lit a flame to remember those killed.

Meanwhile in Mullivaikkal, the scene of the final stages of the killings more than a decade ago, Christian clergy members faced questioning by the Sri Lankan police as they began setting up for commemorations on May 18^th.

The Sri Lankan security forces have ramped up their surveillance and intimidation of Tamils across the North-East in the run up to the date, which is marked around the world as Tamil Genocide Day. Last year, Sri Lanka issued court orders and military threats as part of efforts to block any commemoration events from taking place.

See more on the events of 12 years ago in our feature piece:

12 years today - Another hospital shelled