Thai Pongal was celebrated across the Tamil homeland this morning, with festivities taking place despite bouts of flooding, coronavirus restrictions and a continued heavy Sri Lankan military presence.

Gareth Thomas for Harrow West has urged British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, to condemn the destruction of a Mullivaikkal memorial at Jaffna university.

Tamils around the world marked Thai Pongal, the traditional Tamil harvest festival, today as celebrations shone despite coronavirus restrictions.

In his Thai Pongal message Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, expressed support for Tamil Canadian protesters responding to the destruction of a Mullivaikkal memorial at Jaffna university.

In his statement he noted:

Recently, we saw Tamil-Canadians from coast to coast to coast come together in solidarity to condemn the destruction of the Mullivaikkal memorial at the University of Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, and call for its reinstatement. It is a reminder for all of us that commemoration is essential for reconciliation.

On behalf of @UKLabour, I wish Tamils in the UK and across the world a happy, healthy and bountiful #Pongal. Thai Pongal Valthukkal! pic.twitter.com/o2sEU79fzB

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 14, 2021

Labour leader, Kier Starmer, raises deep concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record and calls upon the government to be “a strong voice on international accountability” during his Thai Pongal message.

Jaffna Municipal Council passed a resolution yesterday calling for the construction of a new Mullivaikkal memorial monument within the boundaries of the Council's premises. 

The resolution was passed unanimously at the first Council session of the year under the chairmanship of V Mannivannan. The resolution comes after authorities toppled the Mullivaikkal memorial monument at the University of Jaffna last week which sparked widespread protests in the North-East and across the world. 

The demolition of the Memorial at the Jaffna University can only been seen as an attempt to erase the genocide by the Sinhala racist racism and its ugly face, the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has said.

In a statement last week, the organisation's political affairs lead highlighted that "genocide of the Tamil people in the island of Lanka is a state policy of the Government of Sri Lanka" and that bans against memorialisation "showed that there was no political space in the island of Lanka for the Tamil people to express their feelings".

In a series of tweets French MP François Pupponi expressed his solidarity with Tamils and avowed to fight for the recognition of war crimes committed against the Tamil people. Pupponi is the MP for the department Val-d’Oise in the Île-de-France region (The regional capital of which is Paris.)

Tamil cattle farmers in Batticaloa, who went in search of their missing cattle were kidnapped, and then brutally beaten by armed Sinhalese men, last Saturday. After attacking the farmers, the Sinhalese men then handed them over to Maha Oya police officials to arrest them and filed a case against them.

A few days later, the six farmers who were also subject to police brutality in custody, were released on bail after being produced in court.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Sri Lanka's prosecutors to drop the absurd terrorism charges against a Tamil journalist detained under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).