In Pictures - Sri Lankan police attempt to block Batticaloa march as Tamils mark ‘Black Day’

Sri Lankan police attempted to block a major march in Batticaloa on Wednesday as hundreds of Tamils took to the streets to declare Sri Lanka’s ‘Independence Day’ a day of mourning.

The march, which moved through central areas of Batticaloa, was led by families of the forcibly disappeared and included civil society activists, youth and local residents. 

Participants were marking Independence Day not as a celebration, but as a reminder of decades of repression, enforced disappearances and the denial of Tamil political rights.

As the procession advanced, a significant police presence moved to obstruct the march at one point, attempting to prevent demonstrators from proceeding along their planned route. The move was met with resistance from protesters, who asserted their right to peaceful assembly and continued to march despite the attempted blockade. The situation caused a brief standoff before the protest carried on.

Demonstrators reiterated demands for truth and accountability for the disappeared, the release of Tamil political prisoners and an end to state repression in the Tamil homeland. Families of the disappeared, who have spent years protesting across the North-East in search of answers about their loved ones, were at the forefront of the march.

Protesters stressed that independence in 1948 did not bring freedom to Tamils, but instead marked the entrenchment of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarian rule that enabled systematic discrimination, militarisation and mass violence. 

The Batticaloa protest formed part of wider actions across the Tamil homeland, where Independence Day continues to be observed as a Black Day.

See more photographs below.