50th anniversary of Pon Sivakumaran's sacrifice commemorated in Switzerland

by Rukshana
Jun 26, 2024

The Swiss Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) hosted the “Manavar Eluchi Naal" (Tamil Students Uprising Day) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pon Sivakumaran's sacrifice in Kollinken, Switzerland on Sunday.

Pon Sivakumaran, who gave his life 50 years ago in 1974 at the age of 24, is remembered as the first martyr in the Tamil resistance. On June 5, 1974, surrounded by the Sri Lankan police and fearing torture, he swallowed cyanide and took his own life.

The event began with a moment of silence and the laying of flowers to pay respects to Pon Sivakumaran. Members of TYO Swiss then opened the event with two welcome songs dedicated to Maaveerar (Tamil martyrs). This was followed by a series of dances and performances of songs by various singers. A TYO member delivered a speech honoring Pon Sivakumaran and his sacrifice for future generations. The president of TYO Sitzerland also addressed the gathering, discussing the ongoing projects and initiatives of Swiss TYO.

The event concluded with an invitation to the youth to join TYO in raising their voices for justice, and encouraging collective action and solidarity.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button