Despite the second year of the economic crisis, Tamils in the North-East celebrated the first day of the Tamil Puthandu, the New Year, on the first day of the Tamil calendar, which falls on 14th April.

Puthandu being the equivalent of the Spring equinox is celebrated by many cultures in South Asia and South-East Asia and by the diaspora communities from these cultures.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) is commemoratied the 35th anniversary of Annai Poopathy's hungerstrike with a procession that began on 16th April from the monument dedicated to Thileepan, in Nallur. The procession, which carried an image of Annai Poopathy, was planned to reach Batticaloa on 19th April, stopping at key locations to commemorate her struggle and sacrifice with the locals of each place.

A tense situation has erupted between the fishing communities in Manayaveli and Samudragama in Trincomalee. This incident follows multiple reports of tension between fishing villages in Trincomalee

Villagers from Manayaveli traditionally involved in fishing claim that in the past few years, they have been assaulted, their fishing equipment damaged, and catch stolen in mid-sea by unknown persons, causing them to lose their main source of income on top of bodily harm. One of the victims said:

On 2nd April 2023, the inaugural inter-university Tamil society athletics competition was set up and held by Queen Mary’s Tamil society, Bart’s Tamil Society and ES sports. Universities from across the UK competed to be crowned the TSOC Olympic Champions by participating in multiple field, track and mixed events.

A German court will hear a legal case against a Tamil individual for waving the Eelam national during a Tamil community event.

The trial will be held on Wednesday 19 April 2023 at the district court in Tiergarten, Berlin.

A Tamil father who has been searching for his forcibly disappeared daughter for over a decade passed away today. 

72 year old Kanapathy Kandiah had been a part of the families of the disappeared protest in Mullaitivu demanding justice for his daughter, Thiruva Kandiah, who was forcibly disappeared during the final phase of the armed conflict in May 2009. 

Note: there are some cuts made to the theatrical release of 'Soppana Sundari' in the UK to suit the family audience.

Earlier this week, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP R. Shanakiyan and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP M. A. Sumanthiran met with residents of Thiriyai, Trincomalee, to discuss their concerns about the land that has been taken by the Girihandu Seya Viharaya, a Buddhist temple in the area.

Representatives from the administrative body of the Vedukkunaari mountain temple and several Hindu organisations from Vavuniya met with the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka to discuss issues related to threats to the temple.

The administrative body of the Athi Lingeswaran Temple shared concerns about the destruction and vandalism of idols in their temple, obstacles presented by the Archaeological Department to replace and reconsecrate the idols, and ongoing Sinhala colonisation of various villages on the border of the Northern provinces with the High Commissioner. They also presented documentation detailing these issues over the past few years.

Members of a Jaffna church congregation forcibly entered the Uthayan newspaper office in Jaffna, and disrupted operations and caused chaos. The incident followed a story reported by Uthayan that implicated a pastor and his congregation in an assault. 

According to the story published in Uthayan, a pastor and his congregation entered the house of an elderly woman in Achchuveli, and assaulted her and two others in the house. The victims then made a complaint at the closest police station, who arrested three persons including the pastor and his son.