The Sri Lankan government, headed by accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa, dropped the Tamil national anthem at Independence Day celebrations in Colombo yesterday, for the first time since 2016. 

The government announced that the 72nd Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka would be sung only in Sinhalese a reversal of a policy by the previous regime in 2015, who had included the Tamil version.

International human rights organisation Amnesty International said Sri Lanka saw “continued impunity for violations and abuses… little progress on disappearances and no accountability for other crimes,” in its 2019 report on rights in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would continue with Sri Lanka’s “Buddhist philosophy” and vowed to ensure that “extremist organizations” will not be allowed to function on the island, as he addressed a military parade in Colombo to mark Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

Heavily armed soldiers marched before the Sri Lankan president in what has become a traditional show of force in Colombo, showcasing heavy weaponry including tanks and multi barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs) – the same types used in the shelling of hospitals and the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils a decade ago.

Tamils across the North-East held rallies and protests today demanding justice for the disappeared and for perpetrators of abuses to be held accountable, as Sri Lanka marked its 72 Independence Day.

See a selection of photographs from events in the North-East and diaspora below.

The University of Jaffna campus was closed this morning, with students refused entry after they expressed support for protests as Sri Lanka marked its Independence Day.

Tamil families of the disappeared in Trincomalee raised black flags this morning, as they continued their protest demanding international investigations into the whereabouts of their forcibly disappeared loved ones on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

A rally was held through Batticaloa this morning, as hundreds of Tamil families marched and demanded an international mechanism to hold those responsible for enforced disappearances and find their missing loved ones.

Tamil families of the disappeared marked Sri Lanka’s Independence Day by holding a rally in the streets of Kilinochchi this morning, as Tamils across the North-East protested today.

Russia is to offer training facilities to Sri Lanka's military despite the long standing reports of human rights abuses and massacres committed by Sri Lankan soldiers.

The Colombo Page also reported that Russia has promised to increase assistance to improve air operation capabilities of Sri Lanka Air Force. 

Students at the University of Jaffna raised black flags across campus this morning, as Tamils across the North-East marked Sri Lanka’s Independence Day as a day of protest.

Commemoration events have been held in London and Vavuniya for Thikshika Sribalakrishnan, a co-ordinator of the Tamil Youth Organisation in the UK who passed away last week.

Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya lit candles before a portrait of Sribalakrishnan, as they paid tribute to her life during their 1078th day of protest.

The former chief minister of the Northern Province C V Wignewaran has called on the UN Human Rights Council to take up the issue of Tamils who have been forcibly disappeared, after Sri Lanka’s president claimed that missing Tamils “are actually dead”.