A group of Sri Lankan police officers wreaked havoc and blocked the distribution of kanji as Eastern University students tried to commemorate Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.
Sri Lankan police officers surrounded the students who were preparing the kanji outside the campus gates and demanded that they stopped the commemoration.
BREAKING - Sri Lankan police officers wreak havoc at Tamil Genocide remembrance event organised by Eastern University students pic.twitter.com/1kUcEUKUlj
— Tamil Guardian (@TamilGuardian) May 18, 2024
Video footage shows a police officer pushing off the flowers and candles that were laid on a stand by the students to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tamil genocide. The police officers proceeded to take the pot of kanji away without any explanation as to why the commemoration could not take place. The officers poured the kanji on the floor as they took it away.
Plainclothed officers videoed all of the students in an attempt to intimidate them.
Kanji is being distributed across the North-East in memory of the plight the Tamil people faced as they were trapped in the Sri Lankan government declared 'No Fire Zones'.
Earlier in the day, the police officers had torn down red and yellow flags that the students had erected to mark the day. The students were then taken to the police station.
Throughout the week, Sri Lankan police in Batticaloa have been clamping down on events dedicated to remembering the Tamil genocide and the tens of thousands of Tamils who were massacred in the final months of the conflict.
