List_of_anti-minority_pogroms_in_Sri_Lanka

List of riots in Sri Lanka

List of riots in Sri Lanka

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Following is a list of riots and protests in Sri Lanka, an island nation situated in South Asia. Throughout its history, Sri Lanka has experienced a number of riots. Since 1915, many of them have stemmed from ethnic tensions between the Sinhalese majority and minority Tamil and Moor populations.[1]

Location of Sri Lanka

19th century

20th century

1915

1950s

  • 1953 Ceylonese Hartal − a nationwide demonstration, a hartal which eventually led to civil unrest. It was one of the riots which did not involve ethnicity and was conducted by several leftist groups.
  • 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom (Eastern Province) − The first major Sinhalese-Tamil riots in Ceylon. The majority of victims were Sri Lankan Tamils in Gal Oya, a new settlement in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths was reportedly 150.[4]
  • 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom − Also known as the '58 riots. They were a watershed event for the race relationships between various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total number of deaths was estimated to be 300, mostly Sri Lankan Tamils.[4]

1960s

  • 1966 − Demonstrations in Colombo organized by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, left-wing parties, and trade unions in protest of the Tamil Regulations Act escalate into riots, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency.[5]
  • 1969 − The Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) conduct a mass rally which ended in bloodshed, the major cause for the riot being the banning of the May Day rally.[6]

1970s

1980s

1990s

  • 1997 − Kalutara prison riots (Kalutara, Western Province) − Three Tamil detainees are killed at the Kalutara high security detention center on 12 December 1997.[10][11][12][13]
  • 8 September 1998 − In Ratnapura, a riot against Hill-country Tamils erupts, where 200 organised Sinhalese mobs with the support of local Sinhala politicians burn down 800 houses. The rape of several Tamil women by Sinhalese men is also reported. The riot was sparked by the murder of two Sinhalese youths, one of them in Bandusena, who had a reputation for raping women and being involved in illegal liquor sales. The Sinhalese attackers were given full impunity by the local police and no one was held accountable for their crimes.[14]

21st century

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also


References

  1. Chattopadhyaya, H. Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations, pp. 51-82
  2. K.M., De Silva (2009). History of Ceylon: Volume III. University of Peradeniya: Ministry of Higher Education. p. 202.
  3. T., Bartholomeusz (1995). Catholics, Buddhists, and the Church of England: The 1883 Sri Lankan Riots. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 15. pp. 89–103.
  4. "An evolving army and its role through time". Sunday Times. 16 October 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2008. The outbreak of island wide ethnic violence from May 24–27, 1958, saw for the first time the deployment of military personnel under emergency proclamations throughout the entire island, where Colombo and the North and East of the country witnessed the worst violence leading to over 300 deaths.
  5. Kearney, Robert (1971). Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon. London, England: University of California Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780520017139.
  6. Kearney, R.N. (1985). "Ethnic Conflict and the Tamil Separatist Movement in Sri Lanka". Asian Survey. 25 (9): 898–917. doi:10.2307/2644418. JSTOR 2644418.
  7. Harrison, Frances (23 July 2003). "Twenty years on – riots that led to war". BBC News. Retrieved 10 October 2009.
  8. Asian Human Rights Commission publication, Human Rights Solidarity, Volume 8, No.11, November 1998.
  9. "news09". www.island.lk. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  10. Jayakody, Pradeep (21 November 2012). "Welikada Prison Riot". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).

Further reading

  • Vittachi, Tarzie (1958). Emergency '58: The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots. Andre Deutsch. OCLC 2054641.
  • Seneratne, Jagath P (1998). Political Violence in Sri Lanka, 1977-1990: Riots, Insurrections, Counter-Insurgencies, Foreign Intervention. VU University Press. ISBN 90-5383-524-5.

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