May 31, 1931
An organized mob of Sinhalese origin burned the Jaffna Public Library, in Sri Lanka. At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts. For the Tamil minority, the devastated library became a symbol of “physical and imaginative violence”. The attack was seen as an assault on their aspirations, the value of learning and traditions of academic achievement. The attack also became the rallying point for Tamil rebels to educate the Tamil populace that their race was targeted for annihilation.
