Courtesy WION

The Sri Lankan government tightened security on Sunday (July 23) as activists in the capital city of Colombo commemorated those killed during the 1983 anti-Tamil riots which fuelled a deadly civil war for six days (July 25-30). According to a report by the news agency AFP, authorities deployed armed troops that outnumbered the protesters.

Several activists lit oil lamps and candles outside Colombo’s main cemetery, where inter-communal inter-communal riots started 40 years ago. 

“Let’s not forget the slaughter of Tamils,” read a banner carried by members of North-South Solidarity, a rights group from the Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities. The AFP report said that during the commemoration, police were seen kicking and stomping on oil lamps placed along the pavement just outside the cemetery.

In 1983, the then-government attempted a mass burial at the cemetery for 13 Sinhalese soldiers killed in a Tamil rebel land mine attack on July 23. Relatives demanded individual funerals for the soldiers and clashed with police, before turning their attacks on Tamils and Tamil-owned shops in the area.

What started as a spontaneous backlash against Tamils escalated to state-led deadly violence. Official estimates say the death toll was between 400 to 600. However, Tamil groups say the actual number is in the thousands. 

Thousands of people in Colombo and other cities were temporarily located in over 20 refugee camps. 

Current President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party was in power when the riots broke out. Wickremesinghe’s uncle and then-president Junius Jayewardene was accused of not doing anything to prevent the violence.