On 18 May, Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day was jointly commemorated by the Ottawa Tamil Association (OTA), the National Capital Region Tamil Association (NCRTA), the University of Ottawa Tamil Student Union (TSU), Ottawa Tamil Academy of Culture & Technology (OTACT), Canada Muththamizh Sangam,  Carleton University Tamil Student Association (CUTSA), Ottawa Tamil Seniors Association (OTSA), and Tamil Genocide Memorial (TGM). 

Dozens of Sri Lankan police officers were deployed and one man was carried away by officers as several Sinhalese individuals attempted to disrupt a Mullivaikkal commemoration in Wellawatta, Colombo on Saturday morning, May 18. 

All photographs courtesy of Kumanan Kanapathipillai

Thousands of Tamils gathered at Mullivaikkal memorial yard to mourn their loved ones who were massacred in Sri Lanka's military offensive in 2009. 

Writing on the anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide, Madura Rasaratnam, Interim Executive Director of PEARL & Ambikai Akilan, Advocacy Officer of PEARL, detail the need to hold Sri Lanka accountable for the war crimes committed in 2009. These crimes continue to afflict the island and Sri Lanka provides a useful lesson for the Israel-Gaza conflict, the piece maintains.

A rally, organised by the Tamil Refugee Council, took place in Sydney Australia to mark 15 years since the Tamil genocide. 

The rally ended outside Sydney Town Hall where a series of speakers spoke about the 2009 genocide in Mullivaikkal. 

Amongst the speakers was Nila, a Mullivaikkal survivor. Nila, who was only 9 years old, recounted the tragic events in 2009. 

Senator David Shoebridge also spoke at the rally and called for justice for the massacres at Mullivaikkal. 

Tamils distrbuted kanji outside Trincomalee Uvarmalai Vidu Vinayagar temple to mark 15 years since the genocide at Mullivaikkal. 

The Sri Lankan military has promoted nearly 4,500 military personnel as Tamils in the North-East nation mourned the massacres of tens of thousands of Tamil by the same armed forces this week.

On the anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide, Sri Lanka’s opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, has issued a statement criticising the government for failing their “war heroes”.

In his statement, Premadasa noted hundreds of former Sri Lankan soldiers have left to for and against the Russian army on the front lines in Ukraine, amidst Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.

Tamils in Denmark held a march at the Copenhagen City Hall and public square of Kongens Nytorv in memory of Mullivaikkal genocide on May 18, commemorating the tens of thousands massacred by the Sri Lankan state.

Tamils in Washington D.C. organised an event in memory of the Mullivaikkal genocide at the Murugan Temple of North America on May 18, as events around the world marked Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

The event was an interfaith spiritual commemorative event dedicated to honouring all the lives that were lost and disappeared during the Mullivaikkal massacres 15 years ago.