The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, visited the home of a Tamil father, who died after spending more than a decade searching for his forcibly disappeared son.

Tamils in Germany make up a sizeable number of the Eelam Tamil diaspora as a whole. Overcoming racist refugee settlement policies which have prevented them from living in close proximity to each other and as concentrated as their counterparts in Paris, London or Toronto, German Tamils have just as successfully established communities with thriving cultural and social lives. The Kamadchi Ampal temple in Hamm attracts thousands of Tamils from all over Europe, especially for its thiruvizha – annual summer festival.

The larger communities are mostly concentrated in the North Rhine-Westphalia state, with smaller populations scattered across the country’s cities, towns and even villages. One of the smaller outposts, with only around 3000-5000 Tamils, is the country’s capital.

Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila, leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (an ultra-Sinhala nationalist party), attacked minorities in Sri Lanka on Twitter claiming that they were provided too much freedom.

Gammanpila, a supporter of the Rajapaksa administration and former cabinet Minister, stated on Twitter:

“Some” minorities in Sri Lanka not only breathe but also blow at the majority.

Eg #EasterSundayAttack #AranthalawaMassacre #GonawalaMassacre #AttackOnTempleOfToothRelic and thousands of many more such attacks

The Uthayan newspaper has hit back at Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson M A Sumanthiran’s claim that the paper had printed “totally false” news, calling his claims “baffling” and standing by a story on how the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) did not oppose the armed Tamil struggle.

Sri Lanka has launched an investigation into a racially motivated police assault of 14-year-old Muslim autistic boy, Thariq Ahamed, who was stopped at the southern town of Aluthgama and beaten for breaking curfew.

The investigation follows protests on social media as CCTV of the assault was shared. Thariq Ahamed was beaten by five policemen and two passers-by who later tied the boy to a post near a checkpoint until his father came and pleaded for his release.

Tamils around the world marked 46 years since the death of  Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, the first Tamil to die in the liberation struggle. 

At his home town in Urumpirai in Jaffna, senior Tamil politicians held a series of events to mark his sacrifice and pay tribute to his role as the first militant to die in the armed struggle.

<p>The Centre of Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned with the appointment of two Presidential Task Forces by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.&nbsp;</p> <p>Earlier this week, the president established a Task Force consisting of entirely military and police personnel to build a "virtuous, disciplined and lawful society" in Sri Lanka which raises "extremely serious implications that require urgent attention" says the CPA.&nbsp;</p>

The Sri Lankan government has blocked access to renowned Tamil news website Sankathi24.com, as the state continued with its tightening of the Tamil press.

The website – www.sankathi24.com – became inaccessible for those on the island on May 28^th last month, with no warning or explanation given by the Sri Lankan state.

The latest incident sparked fears for the website’s correspondents who remain in the Tamil homeland. “We fear for the lives of our reporters in Tamil Eelam," said Seraman, a columnist, for Sankathi24.com. “We fear that they may be tracked down.”

The Sri Lankan navy has arrested at least six people in Mannar this morning, after a 33-year-old man and his 8-year-old daughter arrived by boat from India this week.

The father and daughter, who were both reportedly from Mannar but had been displaced to an Indian refugee camp in 1990, arrived earlier this week. They had been taken into custody by Sri Lankan security forces before being sent to a coronavirus detention centre in Batticaloa.

A Tamil father who has spent more than a decade searching for his forcibly disappeared son passed away in Vavuniya today, without ever knowing the fate of his child.

Sinnachami Nallathambi was aged 71-years-old and just days ago had taken part in a protest marking 1,200 days of continuous demonstrations by Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya.