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The Welikada Prison Massacre took place during the 1983 Black July pogrom against Sri Lankan Tamil minority in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Fifty-three prisoners were killed inside a high-security prison. No one has been convicted of crimes relating to these incidents.

Incident

The incident occurred in two different series of actions: the first on 25 July 1983 when 35 Tamil prisoners were attacked and killed by Sinhalese inmates. The second massacre was two days later when Sinhalese inmates killed another 18 Tamil detainees and 3 prison deputies. The Sinhala prisoners were assisted by prison authorities in killing the Tamil inmates, with reports of cell doors being left open on purpose.

See also

• Bindunuwewa prison massacre
• Kalutara prison massacre

References

1. Welikada Massacre Colombo Telegraph – 9 August 2019
2. Govt. yet to pay compensation to July '83 victims Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine Daily News Lanka – 30 March 2004
3. "Sri Lanka Monitor". Archived from the original on 13 August 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
4. Amnesty International, Rapport annuel pour l'annee civile 1983, 1984

v t e Coups, rebellions, and revolts in Sri Lanka
Attempted coups and rebellions	Monarchical Sri Lanka Velakkara revolt (1084) First Polonnaruwa War of Succession (1110-1153) Queen Sugala rebellion (1157–1158) Ruhuna Rebellion (1160) Rajarata Rebellion (1168) Second Polonnaruwa War of Succession (1186–1187) Kandyan independence movement (1470s) Kangara arachchi Revolt (1603) 1st Kuruvita rala Revolt (1603) 2nd Kuruvita rala Revolt (1616–1619) Nikapitiye Bandara Revolt (1616–1617) British Ceylon Sri Lankan independence movement Great Rebellion of 1817–1818 (1817–1818) Matale rebellion (1848) Temperance movement (1895) Suriya-Mal Movement (1933–1939) Cocos Islands mutiny (1942) Sri Lanka (1948–present) 1962 Ceylonese coup attempt 1966 alleged Ceylonese coup d'état attempt 1971 JVP insurrection Sri Lankan civil war (1983-2009) 1987–1989 JVP insurrection 2015 alleged Sri Lankan coup d'état attempt 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis Aragalaya 2022 Sri Lankan protests
Riots and civil disorder	1915 Ceylonese riots 1953 Ceylonese Hartal 1956 Ceylonese riots 1958 Ceylonese riots Protests against the Vietnam War in Ceylon (1971) 1977 Sri Lankan riots Burning of Jaffna Public Library (1981) Black July (1983) Welikada prison massacre (1983) 1987 Trincomalee riots Kalutara prison riots (1997) Bindunuwewa massacre (2000) Mawanella riots (2001) Beruwala riots (2002) 2005 Inuvil shooting and protests 2012 Welikada prison riot 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka 2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka 2019 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka Mahara prison riot (2020)

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• Black July
• Mass murder in Colombo
• Prison massacres in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka and state terrorism
• July 1983 events in Asia
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