(Protest in Pforzheim)

Hundreds have gathered in front of detention centres in Büren and Pforzheim, Germany, to demonstrate against the round-up and planned deportations of as many as 100 Tamil asylum seekers.

These protests follow the mass dentition of Tamil refugees across the country, mainly in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Baden-Württemberg. 

The Sri Lankan government has announced a sudden and wide-ranging proscription of hundreds of individuals and several Tamil diaspora organisations, as the regime continues to crack down on Tamil civil society and activists.

Mullaitivu locals carried out a demonstration, as part of an island-wide protest against deforestation.

The protest was held on Tuesday in front of the Vidyananda College in Mulliyavalai, with demonstrators demanding halting of cutting trees and preventing unforeseeable changes to the environment.

Sri Lanka's Media Secretary to the Minister of Education has claimed the government will introduce new laws to protect their armed forces from potential war crime trials and possible prosecution from “entities outside of the country”, reports The Morning, as pressure grows on governments around the world to hold Sri Lanka officials accountable for war crimes.

Buddhika Wickramadara echoing remarks made by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman G.L. Peiris earlier this month, was quoted as stating that the "current laws of the country are insufficient to protect military officials from being prosecuted internationally".

“Laws would be introduced to ensure military officials cannot be prosecuted by entities outside the country,” he added.

The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF), an umbrella group of Tamil civil society actors based in the North-East has slammed the latest resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka. In a heavily critical statement, the TCSF said that UNHRC  resolution 46/1 had done little in advancing accountability, and that it would go down in history as “yet another half-hearted attempt at dealing with accountability” and even potentially “another attempt at giving false hope and expectations of justice to the Tamil people.”

A team of parliamentarians visited the Omanthai-Kallikulam area in Vavuniya, following a complaint lodged by villagers and village organisations regarding excessive gravel excavations on the site which goes beyond what was permitted.

Large numbers of Sri Lankan army and police officers were deployed across Jaffna, as stores were forced to close following a sharp increase in the district’s COVID-19 cases. 

Following a damning report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the deteriorating human rights conditions in Sri Lanka, Shadow Minister for International Trade, Gareth Thomas, questioned when the British government planned to impose sanctions on General Shavendra Silva, General Kamal Gunaratne, and other residents in Sri Lanka credibly accused of gross human rights violations and war crimes.

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) in Switzerland states that there will be no changes to the Swiss asylum policy towards Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, stating that there is “currently no reason to assume a general risk of danger in Sri Lanka or that entire ethnic groups were at risk” according to Swiss Info.  

A satyagraha protest, which demands an end to the occupation of the Vavuniya ponds in order to build a tourist centre, was initiated by the People's Action for Vavuniya in front of the Vavuniya District Secretariat on Friday morning.