Black July
Black July (Tamil: கறுப்பு யூலை, romanized: Kaṟuppu Yūlai; Sinhala: කළු ජූලිය, romanized: Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated, and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on 23 July 1983, which caused the death of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, by the Tamil militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.
| Black July | |
|---|---|
| Part of riots in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Civil War | |
A Tamil youth stripped naked before being killed by Sinhalese rioters near Borella bus stand. | |
Location of Sri Lanka | |
| Location | Sri Lanka |
| Date | 24 July 1983 – 30 July 1983 (UTC+6) |
| Target | Primarily Sri Lankan Tamils |
Attack type | Pogrom, ethnic cleansing, Mass murder |
| Weapons | Axes, guns, explosives, knives, sticks |
| Deaths | 5,638 and 466 disappeared permanently (acc. to TCHR) |
| Injured | 2,015 and 670 raped (acc. to TCHR) |
| Victims | Tamil civilians |
| Perpetrators | Sinhalese mobs, Sri Lankan government, UNP; Sri Lanka Armed Forces and Sri Lanka Police |
No. of participants | Thousands |
| Motive | Anti-Tamil racism, pro-Sinhalese sentiment |
| Anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka |
|---|
| Gal Oya (1956) |
| 1958 pogrom |
| 1977 pogrom |
| 1981 pogrom |
| Black July (1983) |
On the night of 24 July 1983, anti-Tamil rioting started in the capital city of Colombo and then spread to other parts of the country. Over seven days, mainly Sinhalese mobs attacked, burned, looted, and killed Tamil civilians. Estimates of the death toll range between 400 and 3,000, and 150,000 people became homeless. According to Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), the total number of Tamils killed in the Black July pogrom was 5,638. Around 18,000 homes and 5,000 shops were destroyed. The economic cost of the riots was estimated to be $300 million. The NGO International Commission of Jurists described the violence of the pogrom as having "amounted to acts of genocide" in a report published in December 1983.
Sri Lankan Tamils fled to other countries in the ensuing years, and a large number of Tamil youth joined militant groups. Black July is generally seen as the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War between the Tamil militants and the government of Sri Lanka. July became a period of remembrance for the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community around the world.