Burning of Jaffna Public Library

The burning of the Jaffna Public Library by an organized mob of Sinhalese individuals took place on the night of June 1, 1981. The library's burning was one of the most violent examples of ethnically motivated biblioclasm of the 20th century. At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts.

The priest and scholar Rev. Fr. H. S. David died of shock the next day after seeing flames engulfing Jaffna Library from his room at St. Patrick's College, Jaffna the night before.