1981 Burning of Jaffna Library
This riot involved the destruction of the Jaffna Public Library, with the loss of over 100,000 books, artifacts and palm writings. Many irreplaceable historical documents and artifacts of civilization in Sri Lanka were lost forever. Some police and army members were accused of collusion in the riots. Four Sri Lankan Tamils were killed.
Read more about this topic: Riots In Sri Lanka
Famous quotes containing the words burning and/or library:
“What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“Our civilization has decided ... that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men.... When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind, it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)