Two days after its demolition, Sri Lankan authorities decided to rebuild the Jaffna University War memorial. The decision was taken after students launched protests in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

According to a report on Daily Star, the vice-chancellor of the university on Monday laid the foundation stone of the war memorial. Earlier on Friday night, the memorial was demolished amid heavy police deployment, triggering protests by the student community.

The Tamil Memorial was built in 2019 in the memory of the Tamil civilians who died during the last leg of brutal fighting between Sri Lankan forces and LTTE insurgents, the militant Tamil separatists group of Sri Lanka.

The chancellor ordered the demolition, terming the memorial an obstruction in unity and reconciliation between the north and south region. He said they need the memorial of peace, not war. The demolition outraged Tamil communities around the region, drawing condemnation from all sides.

Tamil political parties in the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu also condemned the act. Chief Minister of the Tamilnadu Edapaddi K Panaliswamy called the act “shocking.”

The three-decade of the long brutal war between the LTTE and Sri Lanka forces left the country divided along ethnic lines. Even after the end of the armed insurgency, the country still struggles when it comes to reconciliation.