May Day rallies were held across the Tamil homeland yesterday, with calls for the abolition of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), demilitarisation of the North-East, the release of Tamil political prisoners and an international justice and accountability mechanism.

The Sri Lankan government has announced a massive 40% increase on the prices of a range of essential antibiotics, painkillers and other medicines, as the economic crisis on the island continues.

Sri Lanka gripped in the middle of its worst economic crisis has announced it would sell long-term visas to attract desperately needed foreign currency, as the country runs out of dollars to pay for food, medicine and fuel.

Tamil families of the disappeared continued their protests across the North-East, demanding justice and accountability for their forcibly disappeared relatives.

Standard and Poor's has cut Sri Lanka's sovereign rating to 'selective default', as the country missed interest payments on USD $ 1.25 billion worth of sovereign bonds.

Individual securities were downgraded to default of D, the rating agency added.

Sri Lanka has 30 days to make payment on the coupon which was due on April 18.

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to ‘take steps’ towards creating an all-party interim government, according to a release from his office earlier today, with reports that his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa may be removed from his post as prime minister.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S Sritharan told Sri Lanka’s parliament last week that the words of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V Prabhakaran have “become a reality in Sri Lanka,” as he spoke on the murder of a Sinhala protestor by police.

Memorial events were held across the North-East to mark the 17th anniversary of murdered Tamil journalist, Dharmeratnam Sivaram. 

Despite widespread unrest and anti-government protests in the South of the island Sri Lankan authorities continued to suppress Tamil remembrance activities in the North-East, said Tamil National People’s Front parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran in parliament last week.

The Tamil lawmaker was commenting on how Sri Lankan authorities had blocked the children of Annai Poopathy, a Tamil women who undertook a hunger strike until death in 1988 as she protested against atrocities committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). 

Amidst Sri Lanka’s political and economic tumult, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung, made a historic visit to Jaffna where she met with Tamil families of the disappeared, major Tamil political parties, civil society actors, religious groups, and business communities to discuss the impact of the crisis.

A Sri Lankan court has reportedly barred a Tamil parliamentarian from joining protests, after an order from Sri Lankan police was approved earlier today.

Kaluwanchikudy police in Batticaloa reportedly received approval for their order blocking Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian R Shanakiyan  from joining protests.

A Sri Lankan court has rejected a request from police that sought to prevent protestors gathering outside Temple Trees in Colombo this week, just days after another Sri Lankan court granted a police order to ban commemoration events for a Tamil hunger striker.

The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) called on Sri Lanka’s protestors in the South to go beyond ‘skin deep’ gestures and incorporate the addressing of “Tamils’ historic grievances” in a statement that expressed solidarity this week.

The detailed statement began by stating “your government leaders who have slaughtered us over the years have today turned their weapons towards you”.  

^{Photographs: @JDSLanka}