Marking 15 years since the end of the armed conflict, Tamil Families of the forcibly Disappeared staged a protest in Mannar demanding an international investigation to shed light on the fate of the thousands forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lankan military.

Responding to meetings between Tamil politicians and Sri Lanka’s President, during his visit to the Northern Province last week, Tamil Families of the Disappeared have protested the action of Tamil politicians and for not raising their issues.

Tamil Protests block an attempted land grab as the Sri Lankan Navy looks to survey four acres for military camp construction.

On 27 May 1958, the Sri Lankan state declared a state of emergency after Sinhala mobs had began attacking, raping and murdering Tamils across the island on 22 May 1958. The series of violence was to become another in a series of deadly anti-Tamil pogroms.

Estimates range from between 300 and 1,500 Tamils murdered in the days of violence which resulted in many more injured and the arson, looting and destruction of Tamil homes and businesses.

Senior figures within the Labour Party addressed an event to mark Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day at the Houses of Parliament this month, where they reiterated pledges to British Tamils and called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A protest was held outside the Immigration and Emigration Department in Colombo last month, as anti-Indian sentiment flared in the wake of controversy over VFS Global, a private firm tasked with issuing visas at the Bandaranaike International Airport. 

A member of the opposition party Kabir Hashim, leveled accusations in parliament against the government for intentionally obstructing the process of opening financial bid proposals from companies vying for a contract to construct a 50-megawatt wind power plant. 

The philanthropic arm of telecoms giant Lyca celebrated the Buddhist festival of Vesak in Batticaloa last week, with extremist Buddhist monk Ampitiye Sumanarathana seen distributing ice creams for the charity.

Tamils gathered in front of the illegally constructed Tissa Raja Vihara Buddhist temple in Thaiyiddy, Jaffna, demanding the return of land on which the site is encroaching.

Britain’s Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said Sri Lanka remains a “human rights priority” for her government, as she responded to a question regarding “reconciliation” on the island.

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The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has expressed its “utmost outrage and horror” at the brutal assault of a young man from Medawachchiya last month, after he was forced to have a testicles removed due to assault perpetrated by Sri Lankan officers.

Former Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim stirred criticism after he claimed “Northern Sri Lanka is at peace,” after he returned to the Tamil homeland for the first time in 20 years.