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Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) and 24 UK Tamil university societies condemned the destruction of the Mullivaikkal memorial at the University of Jaffna and have called on the international community to take "meaningful actions" to hold Sri Lanka accountable.
"Emboldened by the lack of a firm and strong international response in support of justice, the Sri Lankan state has currently intensified its structural genocide policies against the Tamil nation," a joint press release stated following the demolition of the Mullivaikkal monument on Friday evening.
Authorities bulldozed the monument while protesters demonstrated outside the university gates and expressed concern over the demolition of other monuments located in the university campus.
"The destruction of the Mullivaikkal Tamil Genocide Memorial Monument is a strategy by the Sri Lankan state to continue to deny the Tamil genocide and an act to erase the history and the lived experiences of the Tamil nation," they noted.
This latest incident "joins a long list of genocidal acts perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state on the Tamil nation," the statement added.
The organisations have called on the international community and the United Nations to condemn the recent incident, take meaningful actions to bring accountability and justice to the Tamil nation and to find a lasting political solution to the Tamil right to self-determination.
The UK Tamil societies signatories include: Anglia Ruskin University, Brunel Tamil Society, Cambridge University Tamil Society, City University Tamil Society, Coventry Tamil Society, Essex Tamil Society, Greenwich Tamil Society, Herts' Tamil Society, Imperial Tamil Society, King's College London Tamil Society, Leicester Tamil Society, Liverpool Tamil Society, Loughborough Tamil Society, LSE Tamil Society, Nottingham Tamil Society, Queen Mary Tamil Society, Royal Holloway Tamil Society, Southampton Tamil Society, St. George's Tamil Society, Surrey Tamil Society, Tamil Students Initiative, UEA Tamil Society, Warwick Tamil Society and York Tamil Society.
Read the full statement here.
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