Germany draws record crowd to protest against EU ban

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 23:15 GMT]
Around five thousand German Tamils rallied at the grounds opposite the Railway Station in Düsseldorf Monday at 11:45 a.m., and marched via the offices of Canadian Embassy, British Embassy and the European Union, and reached the Düsseldorf parliament around 12:50. Appeals were handed over to the embassy officials and to the officials at the Parliament.

The demonstrators braved the rainy weather and shouted slogans in both Deutsch and Tamil condemning the violence perpetrated on Tamil civilians by the Government of Sri Lanka's security forces.

Mr Nagalingam lit the common flame and Mr Suriyakumar, husband of "patriot" Ms Kalanayagi, hoisted the Tamil eelam flag to start the main protest event near the parliament premises.

Mr. Baskaran, Rev. Albert Koln, Mr. Sreeraveendranathan and a student representative, Suthaharan, spoke to the large gathering, sources in Dusseldorf said.