Sri Lankan riots of 1977

1977 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka
Location of Sri Lanka
Location	Sri Lanka
Date	August 12 to 20, 1977 (+05.30 GMT)
Target	Primarily Sri Lankan Tamil and some Sinhalese civilians
Attack type	Decapitation, Burning, Stabbing, Shooting
Weapons	Knives, Sticks, Fire, Guns
Deaths	300
Non-fatal injuries	1000+

The 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes in which it stood for secession. Around 300 Tamils were killed in the riots and thousands of Leftists were driven from their homes. The massacres were initiated and actively backed by the Sri Lankan government in power.

After the independence and especially after the 'Sinhala only act" of 1956, Tamils parties were asking for more power for North and east of Sri Lanka where Tamils are the majority. Some have gone further asking for a federal system. There were many agreements (at least two) with the Prime ministers, but nothing implemented. Finally, the desperate Tamil leaders decided that there is no point in co-existence and only solution is a separate state. In 1974, all major Tamils parties representing Tamils in the North east tamils came under one forum (named as Tamil United Liberation Frunt - TULF) and in 1976 they adopted a resolution at their party convention in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna calling for a separate state (Tamil Eelam).

The election of 1977 took place on July 21, 1977. The Tamil districts voted almost entirely for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a political party in Sri Lanka to openly advocate separatism of the Tamil regions of the country.

For some years, there had been sporadic attacks on army and policemen in the Jaffna region, by militant Tamil youth groups which consisted a handful of members advocating separation through violent means. The new prime minister, Junius Richard Jayewardene, was convinced there was a link between the TULF and the militants, and wanted to suppress both.

Prior to the 1977 elections, JR Jayawardene promised that he would give the Police a week's leave so that his supporters could attack members of opposing parties. After his victory, his Government launched unprecedented state violence against the opposition, targeting supporters of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, and the People's Democratic Party. In particular, some 9,000 families of supporters of LSSP leader NM Perera in Yatiyantota were driven from their homes, many of which were destroyed.