Swiss city names alley in memory of victims of 1989 racist attack

Chur commemorates the 1989 arson attack by naming a street after it Keystone-SDA

The city of Chur in easter Switzerland held a memorial service on Thursday to commemorate the arson attack at 38 Alexanderstrasse on July 2, 1989. Four people from Sri Lanka lost their lives, including two children. It is believed the attack was racially motivated.

At a memorial service held on Thursday, 37 years after the incident, Chur named a previously unnamed alley in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene ‘Naanku Vilakkukal Viethi’ – Four Lights Path. According to a statement issued by the city on Thursday, the name refers to the four victims and gives their memory a permanent place in the public space. A commemorative plaque was also erected.

According to the press release, the mayor, Hans Martin Meuli, described the 1989 arson attack as “a harrowing chapter in Chur’s history”. At the time, suspicions of a racist or far-right motive were not investigated thoroughly enough, he said. As a result, questions remained unanswered. This caused additional suffering for the bereaved families and the affected community, Meuli said.

“The city cannot undo what happened. It cannot bring back the lives that were lost. But it can and must now clearly state what was not made sufficiently clear at the time,” Meuli said in the statement.

The authorities’ actions at the time did not fulfil their responsibility towards the victims, their families and the Tamil community, he said, adding that the city acknowledges this responsibility.

According to the press release, the memorial service began with a minute’s silence. This was followed by a religious consecration ceremony led by the Hindu priest Sasikumar. During the ceremony, flowers were laid, the newly named street was inaugurated with a garland of flowers, and the commemorative plaque was sprinkled with holy water, adorned and consecrated by the lighting of an oil lamp. The ceremony was accompanied by a Tamil Hindu prayer and a conch shell ritual.

The erection of a commemorative plaque also fulfils a demand made by the Chur parliament. In May 2025, the parliament passed a motion calling for a review of the case and the installation of a commemorative plaque. This was preceded by a new media investigation into the case by Tamedia’s Das Magazin. The journalists found evidence of racist motives behind the arson attack.

Translated from German, sub-edited by ts