1958 anti-Tamil pogrom

The 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Ceylon, also known as the 58 riots, refer to the first island-wide ethnic riots and pogrom to target the minority Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon after it became an independent dominion from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from 22 May until 29 May 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened after the declaration of emergency on 27 May 1958. The estimates of the murders range, based on recovered bodies, from 158 to 1,500. Although most of the victims were Tamils, Sinhalese and their property were also affected by retaliatory attacks by Tamil mobs throughout the Batticaloa and Jaffna districts. As the first full-scale race riot in the country in over forty years, the events of 1958 shattered the trust the communities had in one another and led to further polarisation.

Background

Official Language Act (No. 33 of 1956)

In 1956, Solomon Bandaranaike led a coalition of leftist parties to a landslide victory in the 1956 general election on a Sinhala nationalist platform and was appointed the third Prime Minister of Ceylon. The new government passed the Official Language Act (No. 33 of 1956) commonly known as the Sinhala Only Act, making Sinhala the sole official language of the country, fulfilling a major election pledge. This was done despite the fact that nearly a quarter of the population used Tamil as their primary language.