Dozens of British Tamils gathered outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London this week, as they marked 37 years since the deadly anti-Tamil Black July pogroms.

Protestors chanted slogans and held placards demanding justice for the atrocities that saw thousands of Tamils killed by government-backed Sinhala mobs.

See more photographs of the protest below.

Read more on Black July here.

British politicians from across the aisles joined commemorating the anniversary of Black July today, a week of anti-Tamil pogroms thirty-seven years ago that killed thousands of people across the island.

Stephen Timms, Chair of Work and Pensions Committee and former Vice-Chair of the APPG for Tamils stated:

Australia’s former High Commissioner, Howard Debenham, has recalled his close relationship with then Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa and other Sinhala politicians who held notoriously racist views, as part of a new memoir entitled “Waiting ‘round the Bend”.

Debenham arrived in Sri Lanka in 1992, where he said his objective was to “to get close enough to Premadasa for him to listen to Australia's views on human rights, trade and investment”.

He reports that after their first meeting at the presidential mansion, “…we got along well. He made it clear he would be pleased to see more of me, one-on-one”. “My relationship with the President grew and the bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Australia prospered,” he commented.

Debenham was posted to Sri Lanka, as the mil

Reporting for the Hindu, Austin Fernando, former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, notes that despite a relative dip in the amount of aid offered by India to Sri Lanka; the current administration is “patching up with the Rajapaksas”.

As parliamentary elections draw closer, campaigning has heated up across the island. In the North-East, Tamils, including families of the disappeared, have signaled their discontent at the current state of military occupation, repression and impunity. More than eleven years on from the massacres of Mullivaikkal, dozens of men and women have died searching for their abducted loved ones. They, and the Tamil people, remain no closer to justice for the atrocities they endured. Across the homeland, their protests have defiantly continued and their frustration is palpable.

The Sri Lankan army and police are increasing their presence at hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, in an apparent move to stop patients ‘escaping’.

Sri Lankan security forces claim this move is in response to a patients’ escape from a hospital in Mulleriyawa.

“It had been a year since the Black July riots in Sri Lanka. We had protested in front of the Sri Lankan Embassy in London but wanted to try something different. Something bigger.

The Sri Lankan cricket team was coming to play their first test match at Lord’s, the home of cricket. It was a big deal. Why don't we put on a protest there? It would be disruptive, yes, but was there a bigger stage for our message?

On this day in 1957, Sri Lankan Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and the leader of the Federal Party SJV Chelvanayakam signed a deal, that contained provisions for the recognition of Tamil as the language of administration for the Northern and Eastern provinces, which came to be known as the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact. 

However, hawkish Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalists railed against the pact, leading ultimately to the unilateral abrogation of the agreement. This was one of the earliest instances of failed negotiations and broken agreements that would eventually seal Tamil hopes of achieving a settlement through Sri Lanka’s political processes.

The Sri Lankan navy opened an underwater museum in Trincomalee with the assistance of Tokyo Cement Group, despite repeated calls for demilitarisation of the Tamil North-East. 

With the support of their 'longstanding partner', the navy personnel used the cement to create sculptures relating to “historical scenes” associated with Trincomalee, Adaderana reported.

<p>A Tamil journalist was threatened by a local politician with links to a former paramilitary MP on Wednesday.</p> <p>The freelance journalist was photographed against his consent near the entrance of the Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court by a member of the Karaichi divisional council, and another individual who accompanied him. The council member is reported to be a member of a political party led by M Chandrakumar, a former parliamentarian who served under the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) until 2016.</p>