Tamils protest in Denmark, Sweden, 2500 march in Oslo

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 17:03 GMT]
More than 2500 Norwegian Tamils assembled at juni plassen Victoria Terrasse Monday 2.00 p.m in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the facilitator's main office in Oslo, and marched to the Norwegian parliament, the Stortinget. Protest rallies were also held in Denmark and Sweden.
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Curbing diaspora support counter-productive, say Finnish Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 13:11 GMT]
The representatives of the Tamil organisations in Finland, who met the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, after marching 2 km from the Helsinki EU office to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Merikasarminkatu Monday noon, told media that Norway which skillfully executed the facilitator role during the challenging internal opposition from the Sinhala extreme nationalist parties, was now being alienated by the external factors arising from the EU's move to ban the LTTE. More than 170 Tamils took part in Finland where a 250 Tamils live.
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Australian Tamils call for an end to military occupation in Tamil homeland

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 06:46 GMT]
Over 1200 Tamils from across Australia gathered in front of their national parliament on Monday, May 29, to raise the voices in concert with the global protest campaign organised by the Tamil Diaspora. Parliamentarians from all sides of Australian politics, religious dignitaries, people who had been to the homelands and others addressed the protesters between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The parliamentarians expressed their conviction that the gathering had conveyed the level of support amongst the Diaspora for the Tamil cause. Some parliamentarians undertook to convey this message of support to the rest of the politicians.
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New Zealand MP, HR activists address fasting Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 06:16 GMT]
A New Zealand Parliamentarian, Keith Locke, pledged continued support to Tamil rights, and a Human Rights activist, Marie Leadbeater, addressing the Tamils who held a fasting protest Monday at Aotea Square in Auckland city, hightlighted the significance of Tamils right to self-determination, said the organisors of the campaign, the Consortium of Tamil Associations in New Zealand (CONTAZ).
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EU ban will impact the Peace Process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Pointing out that the Liberation Tigers never pulled out from the Geneva-II talks and that it was the obstacles that the Government of Sri Lanka introduced after willfully changing the procedures for the inter-theater transfer of LTTE's military commanders that derailed Geneva-II, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, said in an interview with TamilNet on Saturday that EU's ban will impact the functioning of the monitors from EU countries, and the "decommissioning or abdication of arms is non-negotiable."
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US Tamils call for stop to extra-judicial killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 02:48 GMT]
Pointing out that "Scandinavian Cease Fire Monitors have declared that members of GOSL forces and paramilitaries are involved in extra-judicial killings," a joint press release issued by Tamil organizations in the US Sunday warned, "If the CFA and the peace process are to be saved, extra -judicial killings and other violations of human rights of Tamils must end and those responsible be punished, and paramilitaries be disarmed," and called on the US Administration to "ensure that these are implemented immediately by the Government of Sri Lanka."


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Bauer discusses refugees' plight with TRO officials

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 21:15 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) met with Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) officials at the TRO Secretariat Saturday 10:00 a.m. and discussed the escalating number of refugees and the ground situation in Jaffna and in the affected parts of Trincomalee, TRO sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Diaspora Tamils to hold protests worldwide

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 11:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora organisations in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in Scandinavian countries, are to hold rallies voicing protest Monday, 29th May, against the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the European Union next week, organizers of the protests said. Protesters will conduct peaceful demonstrations in front of the Parliaments in their respective countries, said leaflets calling expatriate Sri Lanka Tamils to join the protests.
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STF orders shops closed in Batticaloa as punishment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 22:55 GMT]
"Special Task Force (STF) troopers went around the markets in Arayampathy and Kalavanchikudy areas in Batticaloa district Thursday around 12.30 p.m, assaulting many traders and forcing them to close their shops for five additional days, as punishment for their current two day voluntary shop shut down as a mark of respect for Col. Ramanan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Deputy Commander of Batticaloa district, who was killed on Sunday" said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran.
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Sri Lanka gambles on EU ban taming Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse this week hailed the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers by the European Union next week, saying it would compel the LTTE to the negotiating table and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera called on Middle Eastern countries to also proscribe the LTTE. But the LTTE warns that further proscriptions will precipitate the objective conditions for renewed war.
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Tamils cannot depend on SL Government for security- TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 15:02 GMT]
"Killings of Tamil civilians continue unabated in the NorthEast. Thousands have fled and many are fleeing their villages fearing safety to their lives due to harassment of security forces, and instead of taking constructive steps to allay fears of Tamil people, the Government of Sri Lanka is taking steps harmful to the welfare of Tamil people," said the leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group R. Sampanthan during a press briefing held at the Sri Lanka Parliament building Wednesday noon, sources said.
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Tamils to rally in front of Bern Parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 03:14 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils from across countries in Europe are to stage a rally in front of Swiss parliament in Bern on the 29 May Monday at 1:00 p.m., leaflets distributed by the organizing officials said. The rally will urge the European countries to assist Tamils in achieving their self-determination rights or to recognize Tamils' right to secede, organizers said.
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TRO condemns grenade attack, appeals for safety of NGO staffers

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Condemning the grenade attack on the NGOs in Trincomalee on Sunday, the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) expressed concern over the negative impact the attack will have on humanitarian work, and appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka to "fully investigate this violence and ensure the safety of all humanitarian workers," in a press release issued Monday.
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Sri Lanka government can still avert new war - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 11:39 GMT]
"The objective conditions for an outbreak of war are developing. Yet, there is still a space in which meaningful steps could be taken by the Sri Lankan Government to contain the violence of the paramilitaries and the excesses of the armed forces and create a congenial environment for de-escalation,” the Liberation Tigers’ theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham said this week in an extensive interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.
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Durban Tamils demonstrate against Sri Lanka's rights violations

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 00:23 GMT]
More than 500 Tamil activists participated in a demonstration held Sunday in Durban, South Africa organized by the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa, protesting against the killings of Tamil civilians in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka, sources in Durban said. Placards carried by the protesters accused the Government of Sri Lanka for the complicity of Sri Lanka security forces and paramilitaries in several killings, including the recent murders of eight residents of Allaipiddy in Jaffna islets, sources added.
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TRO provides facilities to Allaipiddy refugees in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 17:13 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) is providing temporary dwellings, food and transport facilities to the growing number of refugees moving into Vanni from Jaffna islets in the wake of the Allaipiddy assassinations, said TRO sources in Vanni. More than 40 families consisting of 200 members are yet to recover from fear and shock after the murders believed to be carried by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the collaborating paramilitaries.
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South African Tamils protest against Sri Lanka's rights violations

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 22:58 GMT]
Representatives of the South African Tamil Federation, Dravidians for Peace and Justice, Tamil Co-ordinating Committee, supporters of human rights in South Africa, and concerned Tamils staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the United Nations building in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, protesting the human rights violations of the Sri Lanka Government against Tamil civilians, sources in South Africa said.
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IFJ welcomes LTTE assurances on media freedom

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 10:43 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers were not behind a warning issued to Tamil journalists employed in Sri Lankan state media, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, told a group of representatives from media watchdogs, trade unions and organisations from South, this week. The meeting was organised after a warning appeared on some Tamil websites in the name of a hitherto unknown group, "Ravana Battalion," after attacks against against Tamil media workers. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it "welcomes the LTTE assurances on media independence," in a press release issued Friday.
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Stop violence, enter talks, Anti-war group tells GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 11:29 GMT]
Condemning the increasing levels of violence committed by Liberation Tigers and by the "armed groups and forces within and outside" Sri Lanka's Military, Kumar Rupesinghe, chairman of National Anti War Front, in a press release issued Thursday in Colombo urged the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka to "implement the agreements reached in the High Table in Geneva," and to "immediately resume the talks which were initiated in Geneva."
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Religious heads protest in Kilinochchi against civilian killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 18:17 GMT]
"International community and Human Rights agencies including UNHCR, UNICEF are keeping silent while Tamil men, women and children are being killed daily in NorthEast of Sri Lanka," said Janab. S. M. Shaheel, Islamic religious leader, participating in a non-violent sit-in demonstration staged in front of the UNHCR office in Kilinochchi Wednesday from 8.45 a.m to 1:00 p.m., said sources in Kilinochchi.
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