Several protests and events have been held in the North, East and in the capital city to commemorate Black July, a state-sponsored massacre where began in Tirunelveli in Jaffna and caused to deaths of more than 3,000 Tamils across the country 38 years ago.
The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) had organized a protest in front of the Jaffna bus stand on the Esala Poya day demanding justice for the victims of the Black July. Protesters chanted slogans holding a black flag.
Correspondents at Northern province reported that, Jaffna Mayor Vishwalingam Maniwannan and Municipal Councilors lit lanterns in the Jaffna Municipal Council to commemorate the Tamils who were killed in Black July.
Leader of the Tamil National People’s Front Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam staged a protest in Vavuniya while the Secretary of the party Selvarasa Gajendran demanded justice for the victims of the Black July in protest which held in Ampara.The party had also organized a commemoration in the Batticaloa district.
Leading the movement for the right to life of the Tamil people, a protest was also staged in front of the Mannar Municipal Council demanding solutions for 15 basic problems that suffer all the people in the country, including the Tamils.
Their main slogans are call for justice for their relatives and loved ones who have been disappeared forcefully and urge the government to protect the country’s democracy.
They have also called on the government to reduce fuel prices and the cost of living.
In the evening of July 23 (Friday), in front of the Independence Square in Colombo their was an occasion of a lighting lantern to commemorate the fellow Tamils who lost their lives in the 83′ Black July. Banners were aldo displayed there
saying “Let’s not forget the Tamil genocide, do justice to those who killed”.
The lighting of the lanterns on the full moon poya day was organized by the committee to commemorate Black July.
23rd July in 1983
Thousands of Tamils were killed and property, including their homes, were set ablaze in a notorious genocide known as the Black July in Sri Lanka, which erupted on July 23, 1983.
The massacre began in Tirunelveli, where
located the Jaffna University. A landmine exploded between Parameswaran Junction and Tirunelveli Junction on Palali Road in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers in an army vehicle. In that night and also the following day troops entered to the villages and killed 51 people on Palali Road and in Sivan Amman village and set
houses in to fire.
The government decided the bodies the soldiers who were killed by the landmine were not sent to their villages but brought them all to the Borella Cemetery for the mass burial. In the past 38 years, no one has been produced before the judiciary who responsible for the massacre of Tamils which began in Colombo and led across the country by Pro government desperados.