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Despite efforts by Sri Lankan authorities to halt remembrance efforts today, Tamils across the North-East lit flames and laid flowers to commemorate the tens of thousands who were massacred by the Sri Lankan state eleven years ago.

Tamil political organisation, Tamil Solidarity, held a webinar called “Mullivaikkal Day 2020” to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal massacre.

The webinar took place on May 17^th at 5PM GMT and discussed; the social, political and economic consequences of COVID-19; the Sri Lankan government’s continued efforts to oppress minorities; importance of working class Tamils and ways in which Tamil speaking people can organise to help with the struggle in Sri Lanka and the UK.

As we near 11 years since the Mullivaikkal Tamil genocide, we are still searching for our family members, families of the disappeared in the North and East, said in a statement.

“May 18 marks another dark day in the lives of Tamil people. This day memorialises the Sri Lankan state’s long history of ethnic cleansing, during the war.

It is an emotional day that Tamils all over the world mourn; it is a day of defiance and grief. A day where the Sri Lanka government and army opposed Tamil rights and unleashed outrageous acts of human rights violations against Tamils.

Sri Lankan police announced that a court order has been obtained barring any events from taking place at that Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Uthayan newspaper offices in Jaffna or at the home of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) leader, just hours before commemorations events were due to take place marking Tamil Genocide Day.

According to early reports, the announcement by the Jaffna OIC bars any events from taking place at the venues and warns that any potential participants may be detained.

More to follow.

A Sri Lankan judge has issued a 14-day isolation order against eleven senior figures from the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) this evening, just hours party members were to mark Tamil Genocide Day on Monday.

The notice, signed byJaffna magistrate Anthony Saamy Peter Paul cites the risk of coronavirus  to order the senior figures into isolation.

It was delivered on Sunday evening, just hours before commemoration events were due to begin.

The Sri Lankan High Commission in London has lashed out at The Guardian this week, accusing the paper of “a sinister attempt to propagate the ideology of a proscribed terrorist outfit” after it published a travel quiz on islands around the world this week.

“From the Hebrides to Antipodes … how are you on islands, isles and islets – archipelago-go-go or just no-no-no?,” read the quiz, which gets published every Friday on The Guardian’s travel section.

The Sri Lankan High Commission was clearly the latter. 

The Batticaloa Municipal Council held a moment’s silence in tribute to those massacred at Mullivaikkal this week, as part of commemorations taking place around the world to mark Tamil Genocide Week.

Mayor Thiyagarasa Saravanapavan, Deputy Chief Minister K. Sathiyaseelan, members of the Municipal Council, Municipal Commissioner Kasithravel, and various other officials were present at the session on Thursday.

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Sri Lankan police officers threatened a Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) Pradeshiya Sabha member this morning, pulling up outside her house and warning that the army will shoot her if she lights lamps to commemorate Tamil genocide day on Monday.

Vijeyakakan Rajitha, a Pradeshiya Sabha member in Point Pedro, said up to 15 Sri Lankan police officers, including the OIC, visited her home this morning.

As part of a series marking 11 years since the atrocities of Mullivaikkal, a Tamil woman shares her reflections on the experiences and the struggles she faces.

At the end of the war, it was estimated that there were almost 80,000 woman-headed households in the North and East.

In this video, a Tamil woman whose husband and brothers were disappeared during the war, reflects on the struggles she goes through as the head of the household and the gender-based discrimination in the society she lives in.
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I am in grade 10 now. I want to score enough to be able to enter Advance Level soon. I love the subject history. I was four years old when I lost my leg, I am 15 years old now. My studies depend on the income we get from the coconut grove.