August 12

This is 12th of August. It is day 225 of the year. As of today, there are 141 days left until the end of the year. If you are curious about the historical footprint of Sri Lanka, let us delve into more On This Day events to uncover fascinating tidbits from the nation's history that covers for 365 days.

Today’s Highlight

• 1812 – The Baptist Church was established in Ceylon.
• 1812 – The Colombo Library was founded.
• 1953 – Rice prices tripled, leading the Lanka Sama Samaja Party to call for a nationwide strike, which ended in a state of emergency after police shootings resulted in several deaths.
• 1985 – The second phase of the Thimbu talks between Eelam Tamil militant groups and the Sri Lankan government began.
• 1990 – The Veeramune massacre in Amparai resulted in the deaths of over 400 civilians.
• 1990 – The Kalmunai massacre in Ampara killed 62 people.
• 1990 – The Thuranilavani massacre in Batticaloa claimed more than 60 lives.
• 1977 – The Sri Lanka riots targeting Tamil minorities began less than a month after the United National Party came to power, resulting in the deaths of over 300 Tamils.
• 2005 – The Minister of Foreign Affairs was killed by a sniper in Colombo.

International observance

• International Youth Day
• Sea Org Day
• World Elephant Day