Remembering Black July

July 23rd marks 32 years since Black July, the period of intense rioting from the 24th to 29th of July 1983 during which 3000 Tamils were massacred and 200 000 displaced.

The LTTE bombing of an army truck acted as the catalyst for the atrocities that happened which included homes being burned down, prisoners being killed by Sinhala inmates and Tamils fleeing for their lives. Now, those who were present at the time recall those frightful events.

‘My mother was at the bus stop when the army truck was bombed, she just left our boarding school after visiting me, she ran back to the school when it happened and was completely shaken’ says 50-year-old Subi M, who was eighteen at the time.

These horrific incidents were carried out by Sinhala mobs with the support of the UNP government and army forces. The LTTE bombing which killed 13 Sinhala men is often seen as the main cause of Black July, however the International Commission of Jurists claimed that the attacks on Tamil civilians were planned and welcomed by UNP party extremists.

‘I remember being called out of our rooms and made to sleep on the floor downstairs, the teachers made sure all the students were together in the same room but none of us knew what going on.’

She mentions that her exams were postponed from August to December as all the students went home, she went back home to Delft Island for three months and those who lived further in places like Batticaloa had to stay with friends.

Food was scarce during this period as very little produce came in from Colombo.

A series of brutal incidents caused Tamils, particularly in Colombo to live in a state of fear, thousands of Tamils left Colombo for Jaffna to protect themselves.

‘There was smoke coming from every direction, bookshops were burned down, homes and shops were looted, people were chasing each other with knives and the police did nothing to stop it’ says Mona S.

She also recalls people being dragged out onto the streets and burned alive, entire buses full of people were torched.

The Sri Lankan government of the time rejected external judicial investigations by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists.

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