‘Thousands of our people have been murdered with chemical weapons just an hour ago’, Tamil protester Shiva said on Monday evening.
He was speaking from the sit-down demonstration by thousands of Tamils on Westminster Bridge.
He declared: ‘We will sit here until we get the cease-fire and Gordon Brown comes down here to talk to us.
‘We will picket outside Parliament until a cease-fire is brought in.’
Shiva continued: ‘We are here, all generations. Our children are dying in Sri Lanka.
‘If the police try to move this picket on with horses then our children will die here. We can’t let this go on.’
In a spontaneous eruption of anger and determination thousands of Tamils blocked Westminster Bridge outside Parliament, calling on the British government to intervene and stop the slaughter.
The blockade arose in response to the genocidal poisoning of between 1,000-1,500 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan army using banned chemical weapons.
Reports coming in from the Tamil area stated that the civilians were directed to go to the the military safe zones, set up by the Sri Lankan army. There they were massacred, killed instantly by poison.
Dr. Raj, retired dental surgeon at Kings College Hospital explained: ‘The government of Sri Lanka has spoken to the US embassy and have released a press statement that they will go and bomb the 25 square kilometres of the Tamil Tigers headquarters which is also populated by between 150,000 and 250,000 people.
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‘The Sri Lankan military have said they cannot wait any longer to wipe out the Tigers and President Rajapakse supports this also.
‘Clearly they are going to kill all these civilians.
‘When Israel bombed Gaza they didn’t take the civilians out of Gaza and put them in Egypt.
‘What the Sri Lankan government is doing is to create a situation like Israel, so there is no homeland for the Tamil people. Most of our people are living in camps now.
‘The British government must take immediate action.’
Rathika from Wembley wanted to tell the story of Sri Lankan brutality: ‘Only today maybe 1,300 people have died in an instant.
‘There is no one to fight for us. It is only the Tamil Tigers that fight for us and they are called a terrorist organisation by the British government.
‘We are not going to be moving away from here until we get an answer from the British government because our relations, friends and family are being killed like animals.
‘As youngsters we are not going to stand by and see our country and our generations just fade away.
‘Thousands of our people have been murdered with chemical weapons. We cannot leave this picket until a cease-fire is brought in.’
Babida Sivasundaran from Ilford School said: ‘We are fighting for our country.
‘We want to stop the genocide and want to be treated equally like everyone.
‘After the British invaded us they gave power to the Sinhalese majority and from then on our rights were taken away as a minority.
‘We wouldn’t mind living together, but all the agreements have been broken, so it is too late to go along with the Sri Lankan government.
‘In the war-free zone the Sri Lankan government army split old from young, boys and girls were separated . They raped the girls and the boys were stripped and shot even though it was a war-free zone.
‘No one is allowed to go into these areas and report. It’s a government secret, like what Hitler did to the Jews.
‘Britain is supposed to support people’s rights. Sri Lanka is a Commonwealth country but the British don’t do any thing to stop it.’
Thusharith Luxmanan said: ‘We are all here to represent and support our people. All our parents, brothers, sisters and all our families and community are dying.
‘The Indian army and the Sri Lankan army are making it their ambition to rid the country of Tamils.
‘They are taking civilians into so-called safe zones and then bombing them with totally banned cluster bombs, and fire bombs.
‘Today 1,500 died instantly, new born, children of one and two years. I don’t think they are all Tamil Tigers.
‘Today we want to get something from Gordon Brown and our MPs to get a cease-fire.
‘We have been protesting for the last weeks and are getting more support, but last night and this morning was the last straw.
‘We are prepared to block Westminster Bridge, today, tomorrow – for however long it takes.
‘We know it is dangerous, but everybody here has lost someone.’
Sundram Probaharan, who had come by taxi from Brighton said: ‘We have to block the roads. We have been driven to it by desperation. We have been politely protesting for 25 years.
‘My dad is taking tablets because he can’t sleep with this situation. He is a business man and he pays his tax in Britain, but the British government is supporting the Sri Lankan government and the genocide against the Tamils.
‘Each family has lost someone, killed by the Sri Lankan Army. My wife’s father was taken out and killed. He had his hands over his head and was shot.
‘Last night they started firing poison gas.
‘I have relatives there and I haven’t heard from them for the last three months. I don’t know if they are alive or dead.
‘The UK government is keeping silent. We want them to break the silence.
‘But it will be too late because over half of the Tamil population will be destroyed by the Sri Lankan government.
‘We are not gangsters, We are not here for violence.’
Kabilan from Enfield said: ‘There is no media in the Safe Zone. The Sri Lankan don’t allow it.
‘Nothing can come in or out. But the British media got into Gaza, why can’t they report on the atrocities against the Tamils?’
• The British trade unions cannot stand by and watch this genocide against the Tamil people.
• They must march and demonstrate side by side with the Tamil people.
• They must demand the Brown government break all relations with the Rajapakse government and end all financial aid to Colombo.
• They must demand that the Brown government also stop supplying weaponry, training and financial aid to the Sri Lankan military.
• The UK must also take the Tamil Tigers off its list of banned organisations.
• The British trade unions must join the struggle of the Tamil people with industrial and political action.
