Sri Lankan police tore down a banner erected in remembrance of the Tamil genocide in Point Pedro, Jaffna earlier today.

The banner had been put up by residents of Point Pedro ahead of the 17th Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day on 18 May. It featured photographs of Balachandran and Isaipriya whose deaths became enduring symbols of the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military in Mullivaikkal alongside the words, “We will never forget, we will never forgive".

A prisoner convicted in the murder of former Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) parliamentarian Amarakeerthi Athukorala has died after reportedly falling from a building inside Welikada Prison, according to Sri Lankan prison authorities.

The deceased, identified as a 29-year-old inmate from Pasyala, had been sentenced to death over the 2022 killing of Athukorala during the height of Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya uprising.

Sri Lanka’s Director General of Health Services (DGHS) has suspended a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and a Senior House Officer attached to the Trincomalee District General Hospital over alleged misconduct linked to the death of a newborn during a delivery on April 9, amid a strike launched by the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA).

The suspended doctors were identified as Dr O.V.G.L. Weerasena, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist who also serves as president of the hospital’s GMOA branch, and Dr S.A.N.D. Siyambalapitiya, a Senior House Officer attached to the same hospital.

Mullivaikkal Kanji was distributed by students from Jaffna University this week to mark 17 years since the Tamil genocide. 

Kanji - a porridge of rice, water and salt- was the only food available for Tamils trapped in the No Fire Zones in the final months of the armed conflict. 

A Mullivaikkal kanji distribution event was held on Friday in Madhu, Mannar, as part of the ongoing Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week observed across the Tamil homeland ahead of May 18 commemorations.

The event was organised by members of the public with the support of the Mannar District Ex-Combatants Welfare Association and took place in the Periyapandivirichchan East area under the Madhu Divisional Secretariat division.

A remembrance event marking the fourth day of Tamil genocide remembrance week was held on Friday in Kiran, Batticaloa district, as part of the ongoing commemorations marking the 17th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide.

The event was organised under the arrangements of the Homeland Action Front (Thayaha Seyalani) and formed part of a wider series of remembrance programmes being held across the Tamil homeland ahead of May 18 commemorations.