Sri Lanka police blocked Tamil families of the disappeared in Batticaloa from distributing Mullivaikkal kanji to mark the third day of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week.
The organisers which included family members, relatives, and members of the Christian church were threatened by police yesterday for trying to commemorare the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred at the hands of the Sri Lankan state. The Sri Lankan police sent away individuals who came to drink the kanji.
Dozens of officers surrounded the activists as they attempted to prepare and distribute Mullivaikkal Kanji, a tradition that Eelam Tamils have practised to honour victims of the genocide committed by Sri Lankan security forces.
Earlier this week, four Tamils including three women were arrested for preparing the Mullivaikkal kanji and distributing it. In the Periyaneelavanai area, police officers and Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) stopped another commemorative event and threatened to arrest the Tamils if they disobeyed orders.
