An event was held at the Father Chelva Hall in Jaffna to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Black July to remember the thousands of Tamils that were murdered by state-sponsored Sinhala mobs during the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom. 

At the event which was held over the weekend, the audience observed a minute of silence for all of the victims who were massacred. Tamil lawmaker M.A Sumanthiran and member of parliament Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam and former chairman of the Northern Provincial Council C.V.K. Sivagnanam were present.

“We should rise up as a phoenix from the ashes, we should serve as a reminder of hope, not of mourning. We should talk about how we will rise up,”  Sumanthiran told the audience. “And that is how we can live. When we do speak, we should do so in a manner that we equate ourselves as equal citizens. Citizens with equal rights and we should fight for it.” 

Between 23rd July and 30th July 1983, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses, looting and ransacking property. Driven from their homes, particularly in Colombo, over 3000 Tamils were massacred, whilst thousands more were effectively deported by the state to the North-East.

Eye witness reports described mobs chasing Tamils down the street with knives and setting them alight alive. Hundreds of women were raped. Tamil political prisoners locked up in Welikada jail, deep within the island's south, were also targeted as prison guards allowed Sinhala inmates to slaughter them.