on this day (may 22) in 1958, sinhala mobs attacked, raped and murdered tamil civilians in sri lanka. it was the first large scale genocidal massacre of tamils to take place, and this unleashed a series of ethnic riots, targeted at tamils.

among the murdered and attacked were sinhalese, who aided and provided refuge to tamils. these attacks lasted until may 27, 1958, until the s.w.r.d bandaranaike-led government declared a state of emergency.

this riot was the first pogrom of its kind to take place all over the island, and the number of deaths ranged from 300 - 1500.

this is just a brief summary of the riots that took place 62 years ago. do yourselves a favour, and look up the 1958 anti-tamil pogrom. it should serve as a reminder about sri lanka’s long history of ethnic violence.

for reading: http://www.ft.lk/article/630359/Lest-we-forget--The-anti-Tamil-pogroms via @FT_SriLanka, published on july 22, 2017.