Hundreds of Tamils living around the coastal town of Southend-on-Sea in England gathered on a beach at dusk on 17 May to remember their loved ones who perished in the Mullivaikkal genocide 16 years ago.
The usual noise and party atmosphere of Shoebury East Beach was replaced by quiet reflection, floral tributes, memorial speeches, as well as songs and poems by children, culminating in the mass release of hundreds of biodegradable floating memorial lanterns into the sea.
Mullivaikkal kanji was also served to participants and local residents in the vicinity, at a time the same innocuous activity in the Tamil homeland was confronted earlier today in Muthur, Trincomalee by Sri Lankan police who seized banners and summoned organisers for questioning. Kanji - a porridge of rice and water - was the only sustenance available to Tamils trapped in the Sri Lankan government-declared 'No Fire Zones' as tens of thousands of them were massacred.
See more photos from the event below.
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