At midnight on May 31, 1981, the Jaffna Public Library, the crucible of Tamil literature and heritage, was set ablaze by Sri Lankan security forces and state-sponsored mobs. The burning has since been marked by Eelam Tamils as an act of genocide.
After Labor leader Anthony Albanese emerged victorious in Australia’s election last week, fresh hope has been raised for the Murugappan family, a Tamil family of asylum seekers who were removed by Australian authorities from their home in Biloela almost four years ago.
Canada's House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, in a landmark move making it the first parliament in the world to recognise the Tamil genocide.
May 18 marks Tamil Genocide Day, commemorating the tens of thousands of Tamils who were massacred by the Sri Lankan state 13 years ago. Follow events from across the Tamil Guardian below and on our Twitter account here .
Over 3,000 people have been killed over the last 24 hours, with another 25,000 critically injured.
As Tamils handed out flyers on the upcoming Genocide commemorations at an anti-Sri Lankan government protest in Australia, they were harassed and subjected to racist abuse with at least one man tearing up their flyers – all of which was caught on camera this week. Spokesperson and founder of the Tamil Refugee Council Australia, Aran Mylvaganam, was invited to speak at the rally in Melbourne (Naarm) this week. But as members of the TRC handed out flyers to the hundreds of largely Sinhalese in attendance at the rally, they were subjected to harassment. “One person ripped the flyer, with a photo...
Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as Sri Lanka's Prime Minister today before Sri Lanka's President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe has served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2015, 2015 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019. With this announcement, Tamil Guardian takes a look back at the veteran United National Party (UNP) leader who has become Sri Lanka's Prime Minister for the 6th time with just one seat in Parliament.
As many as 8 people have been killed and more than 200 injured after a bloody day of violence in Sri Lanka, which saw homes of parliamentarians torched and mobs roaming across the Sinhala south. The violence began as regime supporters gathered at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Sri Lankan prime minister, to listen to Mahinda Rajapaksa deliver an address. After he spoke, pro-government crowds attacked protestors outside the residence, before marching to Galle Face and further assaulting protestors there. As opposition leader Sajith Premadasa arrived at Galle Face, he was also attacked by mobs.
On this day 13 years ago, Stephen Sunthararaj, an activist who had exposed the trafficking of Tamil children into international prostitution rings, was abducted and forcibly disappeared in Colombo by armed men in military uniforms. As part of his work he had told the then United States Ambassador in Colombo about prostitution rings run by government aligned paramilitaries in Jaffna. The paramilitaries were trafficking children into sex rings in India and Malaysia with the help of immigration officials.
In 2008, Thangarasa Selvarani’s son Thangarasa Thayaparan, then aged 28, was taken by the Sri Lankan army in front of her eyes. It was 7 days after the birth of his child. He was sleeping outside their home in Cheddikulam, Vavuniya, after a day of wage labour, loading sand into trucks. Selvarani told him to sleep inside, it was dark and the barking of the street dogs was out of character. He said it was too hot, and he wanted to sleep outside. At around 9pm, Selvarani heard a cry and went outside to see that around 30 or 40 soldiers had rounded the house and were carrying her son off. He...