Annai Poopathy, the Tamil woman and mothers front activist who fasted to her death in protest of the Indian Army’s abuses in 1988, was commemorated across the Tamil homeland on the anniversary of her death on Monday.
Although Sri Lankan police had threatened Annai Poopathy’s family members against commemorating her at the monument to her memory in Kattankudy, Batticaloa, TNA politicians gathered there early on Monday morning to light candles and lay flowers.
Shortly after the vigil, Kattankudy police arrived brandishing a court order and telling the group to disperse.
At midday, students at the University of Jaffna held a memorial to Annai Poopathy on campus.
Families of the Disappeared in Vavuniya paid tribute to Annai Poopathy on the 1520th day of protest.
The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) MPs Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Selvarajah Kajendran also paid tribute in Jaffna, while TNA MP Sivagnanam Shritharan held a memorial in Kilinochchi.
