^{File photograph: Abbas meets Rajapaksa in 2014}

Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa released a statement in support of Palestine’s “legitimate right to statehood” and called for a ceasefire this morning, as Israel’s assault on Gaza continued.

13 rights groups have called on Sri Lanka to immediately release Ahnaf Jazeem, who has been in detention for a year without charge "or promptly charge him with internationally recognisable criminal offences and try him in accordance with international fair trial standards." 

Former Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member, Thurairasa Ravikaran  questioned why Mullaitivu police issued an order against him carrying out Mullivaikkal commemorations, despite them ignoring a Sinhala festival that violated COVID-19 guidelines earlier this week.

Watch live as Tamil Youth Organisation UK (TYOUK) and UK Tamil societies come together to remember those killed in the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan state in 2009.

German Tamils protested in one of Berlin’s busiest train stations, Hermannplatz, to raise awareness of the Tamil genocide ahead of the Tamil Genocide Day.

Every May 12^th to 18^th, also known as the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week, Eelam Tamils across the globe mourn the deaths of tens of thousands of people who were killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the final phase of the armed struggle in May 2009. 

German Tamils joined mass protests in Berlin to express their condemnation of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and occupation of Palestine.

Tamil Eelam flags were seen being carried by Tamil protesters, for whom the struggles against illegal state occupation and the fight for self-determination are not unfamiliar. 

The Sri Lankan Archaeological Department recently surveyed the forested Kodaliparichchan area in Nainamadu, Vavuniya District and has devised plans to commence excavations on spurious grounds that ancient Buddhist sites are buried in the site.

The Archaeological Department was informed about the presence of historical remnants in the site including stone gopurams and pillars by the army stationed in Vavuniya. 

Writing in Jacobin this week, Eelam Tamil filmmaker and member of the Tamil Refugee Council, Baranthan Vidhyapathy, said the Australian government has whitewashed the atrocities committed by Sri Lanka against Tamils and "helped equip Sri Lanka’s state security forces."

Tamil diaspora organisations condemned the "destruction and desecration" of the Mullivaikkal memorial by the Sri Lankan army earlier this week. 

In a joint press release, the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), British Tamils Forum (BTF), La Maison du Tamil Eelam, Irish Tamils Forum (ITF), National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT), Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NCET), Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka (SGPJ) and United States Tamil Action Group (USTAG) said: