Sri Lankan police officers have removed a statue of Lt. Col. Thileepan from his memorial in Nallur, Jaffna, just a day after the Tamil nation commemorated 39 years since his fast unto death.
Over 20 Sri Lankan police officers including Jaffna's Officer in Charge (OIC) arrived in the early hours of the morning and swiftly removed the statue.
The removal comes a day after hundreds of Tamils gathered at the memorial to remember Thileepan, who fasted unto death in a protest appealing to the Indian government to deliver on the pledges it made to the Tamil people.
The bronze statue was only unveiled on September 15 to mark 39 years since Thileepan began the fast ended in his death.
Thileepan's memorial stands in the exact spot in Nallur where Thileepan began his strike. The first memorial dedicated to Thileepan was built the year after his death.
The tower was destroyed by the Sri Lankan army after they captured Jaffna in 1996. Despite being reconstructed during the ceasefire period, the memorial was destroyed again in 2007. The remnants of the tower were once again demolished further in 2012.
A board has now been erected where the bronze statue once stood. It reads, "we strongly condemn the Sinhala Buddhist Anura government that removed the bronze statue of Thiyaga Theepam Thileepan in Nallur" and is signed off as being written by the Tamil people.
Tamils have continued to visit the memorial today, laying flowers and garlands even though the statue has been removed.
The removal comes amid efforts by Sri Lankan police to disrupt commemorations in the North-East. Just four days into the commemorations for Thileepan in Nallur, police officers seized the speakers from the event, claiming they were unauthorised for use.
For decades, the Sri Lankan state has cracked down on Tamil memorialisation activities. Although the current Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed an era of change when he came into power, the state continues to obstruct Tamil memorialisation.
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