The Bindunuwewa Massacre or Bindunuwewa Prison Massacre took place on 24 October 2000, at a detention centre of Bindunuwewa, Sri Lanka, resulting in the deaths of 26 minority Tamil political prisoners by a mob of Sinhalese.^[1][1]

Camp

The low-security detention centre was established to house former LTTE cadres. Of the 26 killed, two were under the age of 21 and the rest were between 21 and 30.^[2]

Massacre

On 24 October 2000, a mob of a few hundred villagers armed with knives, rods and torches stormed the detention centre. The Sri Lankan Army detachment that was posted there had been withdrawn the previous day, for unknown reasons.^[1]

Once the massacre started, the posted police personnel refused to intervene to stop it.^[1]

Government response

Initially, the government responded by saying that the detainees had rioted and that the massacre was an outcome of an attempt to control the rioting. Then it was claimed that the police were unable to protect the detainees in the face of superior mob force. Eventually, the government charged a few police officers with a crime. Most were initially convicted of murder, only to be released by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court in 2005.^[2]

Theories

A number of theories have been postulated to explain the massacre:

• It was organised by local Sinhala nationalist political activists with the connivance of Sri Lankan Army and police personnel.
• It was a reaction by the local villagers who resented the detention centre in their neighborhood.
• It was organised by the military establishment to thwart an attempt by the detainees to go on hunger strike in the subsequent days to protest their detention.