Sri Lankan riots of 1977
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The Sri Lankan riots of August 1977 were a series of attacks on Tamils by Sinhalese mobs in revenge for an alleged assault on policemen.
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[edit] Background
In the election of 1977, the Tamil districts voted almost entirely for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the first political party in Sri Lanka to openly advocate separatism of the Tamil regions of the country. The TULF's rise to becoming the second-largest party in Parliament angered nationalist Sinhalese.
For some years, there had been sporadic attacks on army and policemen in the Jaffna region, by militant Tamil youth groups advocating separation through violent means. The new prime minister, Junius Jayewardene, was convinced there was a link between the TULF and the militants, and wanted both suppressed. Policemen in Jaffna, many of whom were Sinhalese, were increasingly frustrated with the militants' ability to blend in with the civilian population and thus easily evade arrest.
[edit] Outbreak of riot
Policemen were usually allowed to enter public events such as carnivals without having to pay for tickets. On August 12, 1977, a group of policemen were told to buy tickets for a Rotary Club carnival. The police attacked the ticket collectors. The next day, more policemen, drunk, started assaulting carnival goers at random. One Tamil boy shot a policeman. On August 15, police killed four civilians[citation needed] and injured another 21; they claimed the dead men were civilians resisting arrest. The violence gradually escalated; on August 16 police were setting shops on fire. The Jaffna market was burned down on the 17th. When TULF leader A. Amirthalingam questioned police actions, he was beaten[citation needed]
A group of Sinhalese University of Jaffna students, visiting Anuradhapura, stood on top of a bus and told the crowd that Tamils had killed Sinhalese policemen in Jaffna. The furious crowd attacked Tamil shops, houses, and temples in the town. Within two days, similar riots had broken out in Kurenegala, Matale, Polonnaruwa, and Kandy.
Police did little to stop the rioters, even chasing away Tamils who fled to police stations for protection.
[edit] Government response
Questioned in Parliament by Amarthalingam, Prime Minister Jayewardene was defiant, blaming the riots on the TULF:
People become restive when they hear that a separate state is to be formed...Whatever it is, when statements of that type are made, the newspapers carry them throughout the island, and when you say that you are not violent, but that violence may be used in time to come, what do you think the other people in Sri Lanka will do? How will they react? If you want to fight, let there be a fight; if it is peace, let there be peace; that is what they will say. It is not what I am saying. The people of Sri Lanka say that.
After that speech the violence spread to Colombo, Panadura, and Kalutara. Sinhalese mobs openly looted and burned Tamil homes and businesses in full view of the police.
Finally, on August 20, the government ordered curfews and deployed the military to quell the riots.
[edit] Aftermath
The government's official commission of inquiry stated that 100 people had died in the riots. Tamil groups put the death toll at 300. As many as 25,000 people had fled their homes.
Of the 1,500 people arrested, a number were well-known Sinhalese extremists, and some were members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had been overwhelmingly defeated in the elections. This led to speculation that the SLFP had organized the riots to embarrass the UNP government. [1]
The riots radicalized Tamil youths, convincing many that the TULF's strategy of using legal and constitutional means to achieve independence would never work, and armed insurrection was the only way forward.
[edit] References
- "Pirapaharan, Chapter 12" by T. Sabaratnam, hosted by sangam.org. Retrieved August 2, 2006.
