British Tamils rallied in solidarity with Tamil families of the disappeared across the North-East as they mark 1000 days in their roadside protest. 

The rally, held outside Downing Street, saw British Tamils gather, chanting slogans and holding placards denouncing the Sri Lankan government’s inaction and broken promises.

 

<p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/images/icons/WhatsApp Image 2019-11-15 at 15.18.25.jpeg"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>In a joint statement the Australian Tamil Congress, British Tamil Forum, Canadian Tamil Congress, and US Tamil Action Group have called upon the international community to launch a “special independent investigation” to support the families of the disappeared, who have continued their protest for 1000 consecutive days.</p>

<p>Ruwan Gunasekara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan police have reported that 26 people have been arrested for violating election laws during the voting period.</p> <p>Gunasekara claims that this has been a relatively peaceful election and reports that;</p> <blockquote><p> “Among the arrested, eight were nabbed for taking photos of the ballot papers while 18 were arrested for roaming near polling centers". </p></blockquote>

<p>Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ravi Seneviratne, has instructed the army remove roadblocks to allow Tamils to access polling stations; this request was initially denied.</p> <p>Eventually the army was forced to abide by the Electoral Commissioner demands, however TNA MP, M.A. Sumanthiran has told Daily Mirror that people in the north were familiar with roadblocks and that this would not hinder them.</p>

The international human rights organisation Front Line Defenders has issued an urgent appeal against the targeting of human rights lawyer and head of law at Jaffna University, Dr Kumaravadivel Guruparan.

As votes are being counted for Sri Lanka’s presidential election, turnout reached as high as 83% percent in some of the Tamil districts in the North-East, according to early figures.

See turnout figures from districts in the North-East below.

A Tamil man was stabbed and other Tamil voters attacked in Kegalle, as voting took place across the island in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections.

The attack has led to tension in the Deraniyagala and led to at least one person being admitted to hospital. The stabbing reportedly occurred after a group of unknown persons broke into a house, whilst others were attacked after refusing to vote for a specific candidate.

Polls in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections has now officially closed, with tens of thousands of Tamils across the North-east having cast their votes.

Turnout was reportedly above 50% across many districts in the North-East, as votes begin to get counted. 

Across the island, turnout is expected to be at around 80%.

There were at least 139 election related violations across the island, between the open of polls at 7am and 1pm, according to the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV).

The majority of violations were illegal campaigning as well as intimidation and influencing of voters.

Tens of thousands of Tamil voters have cast their ballots early across the North-East amidst a ramped-up security presence and heightened tensions, as Sri Lanka’s presidential elections were underway on Saturday.

Tamil voters have reportedly begun stocking up on supplies and groceries, amidst fears of violence in the wake of a close election between the two leading candidates Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa.  

Unidentified gunmen fired shots and pelted stones at a bus carrying displaced Muslim voters as it travelled to Mannar on Saturday, despite the massive Sri Lankan security presence in place as Sri Lanka’s presidential elections began to get underway.

Angad Singh, journalist at Vice News, writes that Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings made Gotabaya Rajapaksa, an alleged war criminal, a front runner in the upcoming Presidential election. 

<p>An eminent group of Sinhala Buddhist monks issued a statement this week, calling on Sri Lankans to vote for a presidential candidate who will preserve the unitary status of the island and "defeat all forces that are attempting to divide this land".</p>

<p>At least 50 Sri Lankan officials deployed to a polling centre in Royal College, Colombo have been hospitalised due to food poisoning.</p> <p>Over 150,000 officials have been deployed to 12,600 polling booths and nearly 50 counting centres across the country.</p> <p>Approximately, 15.9 million eligible voters will take to the polls this Saturday.</p>