• US embassy “greatly concerned” about attacks on students

    The Embassy of the United States in Colombo has released a statement, expressing concern about recent acts of violence by government officials, including the attacks on Tamil students and the beating of a reporter on November 28.

  • Attacks have pushed reconciliation even further away - TNA MP

    Speaking to the press on the Sri Lankan military's and Sri Lankan police's attacks on Tamil university students, TNA MP Saravanbhavan said that what he saw was exactly what happened 30 years ago.

    Stating that the Sri Lankan security forces inherently viewed Tamil university students as the enemy, Saravanabhavan said,

  • Maaveerar Naal a 'piercing emotional experience for me' - Australian senator

    Speaking in the Australian senate on Tuesday, the senator for New South Wales, Lee Rhiannon, recalled her past experience of attending a remembrance event with the Tamil community on 27th November, and stressed that she stood by the Tamil people on this very important day.

    See here for full address, excerpt follows:

    "For Tamils all around the world, including in Sri Lanka, 27 November marks a very important and hauntingly sad day. In Tamil the day is known as Maaveerar Naal. Veerar means 'warrior' or 'hero'; Maa means 'great'; and Naal means 'day'. It is a day on which millions of Tamils will remember the hundreds and thousands of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and the elderly who sacrificed their life in the 26-year-long struggle for their freedom.

    Last year on this day I joined around 2,000 Tamils in Sydney's west to pay respect to the courage, strength and sacrifice of the Tamil people. The overwhelming distress and pain of the Tamil community as they stood in line to lay down a flower in respect for the fallen was a piercing emotional experience for me. I am in parliament today so I will not be able to join the community, but I still stand beside them as their friend on this significant day.

  • Security forces attack youth in Jaffna

    Students from Jaffna University have been attacked by Sri Lankan police and military after protests against the military’s harassment of Tamil youths on Tuesday.

    The peaceful demonstrations saw dozens of students rally outside the university, holding banners and shouting slogans.

    According to TamilNet, four students were arrested and AFP reported that at least 20 sustained injuries, after SL police and military attacked the protestors.

    Pictures published on TamilNet and some Sri Lankan media shows police beating students.

  • Malaysian parliamentary caucus opposed Rajapaksa's visit

    A parliamentary caucus in Malaysia on abuse of human rights in Sri Lanka, opposed Mahinda Rajapaksa's planned visit to the country, reports the country's Daily Star media site, quoting the Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz as source.

  • Salem villagers remember the heroes

    Over 400 people from various villages in Salem, Tamil Nadu, held a candle-light vigil for Maveerar Naal in the village of Puliyoor, reports the Times of India.

    Marking a 21-year-old tradition, men, women and children gathered at the ‘Ponnammaan Memorial Bus Shelter’, holding candles and singing songs in praise of Eelam and the nation’s heroes.

    Mrs Kanagarathinam from nearby Mettur Dam who attended the event with her husband Mullaivendan said:

    "The (LTTE) cadres fought for the rights and died for the Sri Lankan Tamils. We salute them for their sacrifice."

  • Remembering sacrifice

    Today, the 27th November, in every corner of the world, Eelam Tamils join together in an act of remembrance. From a Gloriosa lily proudly affixed onto a coat lapel, to the collective events of remembrance held in capitals worldwide, to the daring posters reported in the North-East, today the nation remembers.

    For the Eelam nation, there are of course many days of national remembrance and reflection across the year. After all, it should come as no surprise that a nation ravaged by persecution, genocide and armed conflict, is in a state of frequent grief and mourning. Yet today - Maaveerar Naal - is set apart from all other occasions. It remembers not the finality of death, but the solemnity of sacrifice.

  • Tamils defiant as SL state attempts to quash remembrance

    The Sri Lankan military has been increasing its brutal quashing of all remembrance acts in the North-East according to several reports.

  • Security forces engulf Jaffna University

    Jaffna University is experiencing a disproportionately high presence of security forces today as troops and police flocked to the campus to prevent any commemoration of Remembrance Day.

    The forces extended their presence as far as the male's hostel as well as interrogating passers-by in the vicinity surrounding the campus.

  • Armed intelligence officers roam Jaffna Uni campus

    According to Jaffna-based newspaper Uthayan, pistol carrying intelligence officers from the Sri Lankan army have increased their presence in Jaffna university.

  • Military storm Jaffna uni hostels, students attacked

    Photographs Uthayan

    The Sri Lankan military and intelligence personnel raided the Balasingham hostel and Ananthakumaraswamy hostel at Jaffna university, after students lit a lamp of sacrifice to commemorate Maaveerar Naal, reports Uthayan.

    According to the newspaper, the military had been roaming the university through out the day since students celebrated the birthday of V. Prabhakaran on Monday.

    At 6:05pm, as the students lit the lamp of sacrifice, military personnel, armed with guns and batons stormed the two boys' hostels attacked everyone they came across.

  • Is remembrance enough?' - Imperial College London Tamil Society

    Speaking at the recently held "Youth Maaveerar Naal" in London, Imperial College London student Visakan Balakumar called on his fellow university students to intensify the struggle against genocide during a speech on behalf of his university's Tamil Society.


    The speech has been reproduced in full below.

    "Dear ladies and gentleman. We gather here today to remember those brave souls who gave their lives. Those brave souls who gave their lives for us, for our homeland and our nation. Their selfless acts of bravery in the line of duty mark some of the greatest achievements in the history of the Eelam Tamil nation, our Eelam Tamil nation.
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