British Tamils protest against Rajapakse’s London visit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 11:53 GMT]
More than one thousand British Tamils and UK residents, Wednesday held a demonstration in front of the British Parliament in London from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. protesting against the visit of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to London, and condemning the Sri Lankan Government for violations of the human rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, the organizers of the rally said.



The protest demonstration was organized by the European Tamil Federation which has branches in all European capitals. Protestors shouted slogans calling for a stop to killing Tamil civilians, an end to the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the recognition of the right of Self determination of the Tamil people.

The organizers collected thousands of signatures from the public on an appeal addressed to the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, which was later forwarded to him.

The appeal urged the prime minister to:

• Impress upon the Government of Sri Lanka to stop all violence and aerial attacks on the Tamil people and to implement the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement and the Geneva 1 Agreement fully.
• Recognize the right of self-determination of the Tamil people and their traditional homeland in the Northeast in order for them to determine their own political future.
• Impress upon Britain’s allies USA, Israel and Pakistan to stop their sale of lethal weapons to Sri Lanka and the adverse effects on civilians which amounts to war crimes.
• Help remove the ban on the LTTE in UK and EU as the ban has caused severe impediments to the Peace process by upsetting the parity of status between the two parties.
• Condemn the killings of 61 schoolgirls, charge the Sri Lankan president with war crimes and declare Sri Lanka as a failed state and apply Military sanctions.