On Sri Lanka’s Independence Day, Tamils across the globe have rejected the day and taken to social media to raise awareness of the Tamil genocide.
This protest comes as Families of the Disappeared in Jaffna and Vavuniya defied court bans to launch protests and hunger strikes demanding to know what happened to their loved ones. These protests are on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day which protesters have referred to as a “black day”.
Tamils across the North-East are participating in a walk for justice from "‘Pottuvil to Polikandi" to demand that the United Nations and international community heed Tamil calls for justice and accountability.
The march has been endorsed by all Tamil political parties, as well as by Tamil and Muslim civil society organisations and Muslim leaders. The campaign has been met with a brutal crackdown from the Sri Lankan state, with troops and police disrupting and threatening marchers.
Read more here: Pottuvil to Polikandi - Tamils brave crackdown to begin marching length of homeland
The following tweets were amongst the broader trend.
In solidarity w/ families in Eelam protesting for their disappeared loved ones & Eelam Tamils protest in seeking Justice from gov’t & international bodies to hold SL accountable for the murder & disappearance of over 100,000 Tamils in SL. #NotMyIndependance #GenocideSriLanka
— Roshni_Raveenthiran (@Roshni_Raveen) February 4, 2021
There were also calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court:
Can we also please sign this petition. It literally takes less than 30 seconds to sign. If we manage to get 10k signatures, the government will feel inclined to get involved! #GenocideSriLanka #notmyindependence #SriLankaGenocide https://t.co/8nda3H3LBt
— Yathu (@MochaCaramelito) February 4, 2021
February 4th. It’s Sri Lanka’s independence day But for Tamil people it’s a black day #GenocideSriLanka pic.twitter.com/PdocnPP0P3
— Ayanna (@nanou_127) February 4, 2021
