Ceylonese protests against the Vietnam War
The 'Ceylonese protests of 1970' was a riot against the Vietnam War, mostly opposing the American involvement in the War.[2][3]
| Ceylonese protests against the Vietnam War | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Anti-war movement and the First JVP insurrection | |||
| Location | |||
| Caused by |
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| Goals |
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| Methods | |||
| Resulted in | Ban of various leftist youth groups | ||
| Parties to the civil conflict | |||
| Lead figures | |||
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| Casualties | |||
| Death(s) | 1-2 | ||
| Injuries | 10-12 | ||
| Arrested | 100 (March 19, 1971) 120 (March 20, 1971) around 375 (March 30, 1971) 410 (April 1, 1971) | ||
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The protests broke around the country with banners and posters but many protesters were marching directly towards the U.S Embassy of Ceylon as opposition to their involvement in the Vietnam War.
Riots
The protesters gathered in the road leading to the U.S embassy and many of them were youths who were influenced by the worldwide Anti-War Movement including the group within United States itself. The government didn't pay attention to the protests until March 10 1971 when the protesters threw a petrol bomb towards the United States Embassy in Ceylon.
The rioters attacked and damaged the vehicles parked outside the embassy and killed a police officer who was at duty outside the embassy. This attacks were believed to be planned by the political movement, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna which was a revolutionary communist youth front. Although it was new, the party was alleged to many crimes by other leftist groups at the time. JVP denied active involvement and claimed it was government sponsored anti-communism and that it is trying to stop a revolutionary movement. Following the allegations, JVP planned arming itself and be more elitist especially against the government. LSSP R and Revolutionary Youth Front (Ceylon) was also among the rally.[2] JVP members claimed later that they were infact involved but the group that threw a petrol bomb was a different group named JVP - Dharmasekara group and Wijeweera had no involvement.[2] They further stated that Dharmasekara group was a Maoist group that tried to stop it from carrying out a revolution involving 'mass movement' rather than Maoist Potracted People's War tactics. Later in prison, Wijeweera wrote a book where he states "It is much easier to make a Guerrilla than coordinate a Political Movement".[2]
Account of the JVP members
According to the JVP a politburo member,[2] known as Dharmasekara was responsible. Osmond was the secondary leader of the JVP next to Wijeweera and he said he wasn't aware of the attack. Police raided his compound to arrest him and Wijeweera in prison have sent a message to Osmond who is also under arrest, according to 'Niyamuva' (a JVP publication) the message read:
Distribute a leaflet to make the masses aware regarding the reppression, carry out other propaganda campaigns, full time activists to change their areas to avoid suppression and to retreat at places where reppression is high. Also, to meet lawyers favourable to the party regarding taking legal action to free the members currently under arrest.
Government reaction and arrests
The government banned the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. The ban was to be lift by 1972 but the group banned would go begin a uprising that made the government name it as a terrorist organization. CCP (Maoist) was also banned in 1971 following the uprising.[4] JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera was arrested and was sent to the Jaffna prison. The other groups that were blamed was the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary), Socialist Students Union (a recruitment wing of the JVP) and Revolutionary Youth Front (Ceylon). [5]
13th March 1971
Wijeweera and Senanayake was arrested by Ceylon Royal Police Force.
19th March 1971
On 19th March, 1971 it was announced that Police and Army were given broad powers. At the time the number taken into custody was around 100.
20th March 1971
The Department of Information reported on 20th March, 1971 that the number taken into custody was around 120. The security forces set fire to a house for the first time at Mawarala in Matara to capture some JVP members.
27th March 1971
The government captures more than 300 youths. Many who worked with Nagalingam Shanmugadasan at the CCP was also arrested. Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara campuses were raided by the Armed forces due to the alleged connections to the JVP and CCP (Maoist).
By April 1, over 410 were arrested.
Legacy
JVP claimed this ban made it a insurrectionist group. The party was involved in two insurgencies. The first in 1971 April and the second in the period 1983-1990 following the arrival of the interventionist IPKF and mostly its second ban by the government of J.R Jayawardene.
International groups affected
CCP Maoist was an supporter of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) which too was a radical group. CPIML lost the liaision point they had with China following ban of the Maoist party of Ceylon. Following the end of the 1971 JVP insurgency, North Korea too lost the diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka, due to the alleged North Korean involvement in the insurgency.[6]
Nationalization
Following the disorder, Ceylonese government would decide to stop the supplies towards the US in Vietnam and other countries in South East Asia and become pro-Soviet. Sri Lanka became the name of the country and in the following years, the country began more pro-Eastern bloc activity like demilitarize the country of British and American camps. While the nationalization process was accepted by many of the country, this stirred waves of Sinhalese and Tamil Nationalism which led to the 25-year long Sri Lankan national conflict.
See also
References
- The History of the JVP 1965-1994. Niyamuva publishers. p. 23. ISBN 978-955-8696-39-2.
- JVP, a history.
- The Insurgency In Ceylon and it's Repurcussions, P. 2-3
- "The story of a North Korea-backed rebellion in Sri Lanka - NK News - North Korea News". 10 October 2017.