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Posts and videos claiming that a group of Tamil extremists stormed the Barista outlet near Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil in Jaffna, threatened it with the slogan “No Sinhala businesses” and forced it to shut have been circulating widely on social media. Claims like these can feed ethnic mistrust and hatred between communities, so we checked whether they were true. Here are the posts that carried the claim.
Social Media Posts:
A video shared around October 5, 2026, carried the headline “Sold meat dishes! No Sinhala businesses in Jaffna! A group of Tamil extremists storms BARISTA restaurant. How is their noise now?” It is shown below.
Other posts also circulated, saying this was an injustice to the Barista business and that no mainstream media outlet had reported the incident.
Fact-Check:
We checked whether mainstream media had reported any recent protest or clash against a Barista restaurant in Jaffna and found no such report. We then ran frames from the video shared on social media through a reverse image search.
The video shows a protest held on May 20, 2025
The search showed that the video shows a protest on May 20, 2025, against the Barista coffee shop that had opened on Point Pedro Road in Jaffna, near the Jaffna Municipal Council and Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil. A video of the protest had been posted on a YouTube channel.
The 2025 protest was about meat sold near the temple
The protest was triggered by that branch selling meat and meat-containing food. Shaiva religious organizations and devotees argued that this disturbed the sanctity and traditional setting of the temple grounds. They called for a protest in front of Nallur temple on the evening of May 20, 2025, and on May 21 handed the Jaffna Municipal Council Commissioner a petition signed by more than 450 people.
On May 22, 2025, the Jaffna Municipal Council removed the signboard in front of the restaurant. Tamil-language reports said the restaurant had opened without council permission and that the board was removed with a notice to obtain a proper license.
The Nallur branch closed permanently, but Barista remains in Jaffna
Facing the protests, Barista initially said the Nallur branch would sell only vegetarian food and drinks, respecting the community’s religious sentiments. By September 3, 2025, that branch had been permanently closed. Earlier, on July 21, 2025, Barista had announced another outlet in Jaffna, the existing Cargills Square branch.
At the time, a social media post showed Barista serving only vegetarian food, and another post reported the signboard’s removal by the council.
Barista confirmed that no recent protest targeted its Jaffna outlet
We asked the head office of Barista Coffee Lanka (Pvt) Ltd whether any protest had targeted the Barista restaurant at Cargills Square, Jaffna. Its marketing division confirmed that no protest had recently targeted any Barista branch in Jaffna. It said the Nallur branch, which faced a protest in 2025, was closed entirely because of the opposition in that area, and that the Cargills Square branch is now its only outlet in Jaffna.
Jaffna Police and regional journalists confirmed the same
In reply to our inquiries, Jaffna Police and regional journalists in Jaffna also confirmed that there had been no recent protest against Barista. They added that last year’s protest was against selling meat and fish dishes about 400 metres from the temple grounds, and that Barista later moved the restaurant to another location in Jaffna.
Media did report the 2025 protest
The social media claim that mainstream media did not report the incident is also misleading. Tamil-language media reported detailed information on the May 2025 protests: the protest call, the signboard removal, the restaurant turning vegetarian and the petition handover, and the Tamil Saiva Peravai’s meeting with the Northern Province Governor on May 24, 2025 to demand the restaurant’s closure.
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Conclusion:
Our fact-check found that social media reports claiming a Barista restaurant in Jaffna was closed “due to threats from Tamil extremists against Sinhala businesses” are misleading.
The video is not recent. It shows a protest on May 20, 2025, near Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, held by Shaiva religious organizations and residents against the sale of meat near a sacred temple ground. We found no report that it had an ethnic or anti-“Sinhala business” character.
Although the Nallur branch closed permanently in early September 2025, Barista has not been driven out of Jaffna. It still operates a restaurant at Cargills Square, which the company, Jaffna Police and regional journalists confirmed has faced no recent protest. So, avoid sharing such old, misleading information that spread hatred between communities without verifying it.
Title: Barista Jaffna Video Is a 2025 Anti-Meat Product Protest, Not an Anti-Sinhala Business Attack
Fact Check By: Pavithra Sandamali
Result: Misleading
