As Tamils across the world and in the homeland commemorate the 39th anniversary of the anti-Tamil Black July pogrom, the Tamil Coordinating Committee and hundreds of Tamils in the United Kingdom protested for justice and paid tribute to the thousands of Tamil lives lost during the state-sponsored atrocities of 1983.
The protests started with the hoisting of the British National Flag by the National Activist of Tamil Unification Committee. Mr. Suresh Gobi, who worked for the Voice of the Tigers, Radio of Tamil Eelam, paid floral tributes following the installation of the statue by national activist Arumugam Jaya. In front of Donning Street, streets were blocked off to hold the commemorative event.
The commemorative event had poetry, dances and speeches made by Tamil Genocide survivors and descendants of survivors to pay tribute to the thousands of Tamil lives lost. The event culminated with the promise “we will walk until we get Tamil Eelam”.
Over 3,000 Tamils were killed within six days between July 24 - 30 during 1983. The official government figure for the racially-motivated killing of Tamils was 358.
Armed with voting lists, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses, looting and burning Tamil property and massacring over 3000 Tamils. Hundreds of Tamil women were raped, many Tamils were burned alive, 18,000 homes and 5,000 shops were destroyed and 150,000 Tamils were displaced. It also prompted one of the largest exodus of Tamils off the island as 500,000 Tamils fled.
Eye witness reports described Sinhala mobs chasing Tamils down the street with knives and setting them alight alive. To this day, no individual nor the Sri Lankan state has been held accountable for the brutal state-sponsored violence or the Tamil lives lost during Black July.
