WE WANT Tamil Eelam!’, ‘Don’t kill Tamil people!’, ‘Let us live in peace!’, ‘Rajapakse – war criminal!’ and ‘Sri Lanka – terror government!’ shouted 6,000 people at a demonstration opposite parliament on Monday evening.
They were demonstrating against the continuing war being waged by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamil people, who are under a state of siege in the north of Sri Lanka.
They demanded an end to British support for the Rajapakse government and sanctions by the British government against the Sri Lankan regime.
Logie Lohendran said: ‘Today’s protest has been organised by the British Tamil Forum to highlight the problem of why the British government is not helping to stop the suffering of Tamils.
‘When will the British government open their eyes and see the genocide that is going on in Sri Lanka?
‘Why are they afraid to help the Tamil community?
‘Why can’t they impose sanctions against the government that is carrying out these atrocities?
‘How much protest do the Tamil community have to do before the British government open their eyes to the indiscriminate aerial bombing of Tamil areas by the Sri Lankan air force?’
Councillor Theaya Idaikkadar, chair of the British Tamil Councillors and Associates, told News Line: ‘I have spoken to the police. They appreciate such a big gathering and the community spirit.
‘They have never seen that many people in the square before.
‘People are very emotional. They do not want to forget their brothers and sisters and they want to fight with them, shoulder to shoulder, for basic human rights.’
He added: ‘We had a meeting with (British government minister) Lord Maloch Brown in Rayners Lane about four weeks ago.
‘Over 1,200 people turned up and we exceeded the whole capacity in the hall.
‘And Lord Maloch said publicly all minority groups in the world have the right to self-determination.
‘We don’t want to be slaves to anybody.
‘Recently, the Sinhalese commander said Sri Lanka belongs to Sinhalese people only and the Tamils have to live under their terms, which drew worldwide condemnation.
‘We will keep fighting until we get our rights.
‘What rights a dog or cat has in this country, the Tamil people don’t have the same rights in Sri Lanka!
‘If you throw a stone in this country at a dog, you can go inside for six months – in Sri Lanka, if you kill a Tamil, you get a chicken dinner!
‘Men and women are raped on a regular basis, children are killed.
‘Two hundred and fifty thousand people are displaced at the moment, with only the trees as a shelter, no access to clean water or food.
‘The British government sent a fact-finding team and in their report they recommend sending £20 million to the Tamil area, and that shows how bad the situation is and is recognised by the British government.
‘I call upon all British people to boycott any product produced in Sri Lanka and I cannot understand why the EU is about to extend the tax export advantage to a country where there are no human rights.
‘And in such a dangerous country, I call upon people not to travel to Sri Lanka, otherwise you are taking your life in your hands and you are helping the Sri Lankan government to buy more arms with your money.
‘Please read the websites and the newspapers, such as yours, to be aware of what is happening and put pressure on MPs to do something before it is too late.
‘Trade union members should take a very keen interest in how and why goods are imported tax free from a country with no human rights.
‘That money should have gone to European workers.
‘The government in Sri Lanka is using the war to exploit workers in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka’s biggest trading partner is the EU.
‘The trade unions in Britain should take a very keen interest in this and investigate the matter.’
Suthan, another demonstrator, said: ‘Every day, 100, 200, 300 are killed or wounded by bomb blasts.
‘People can’t go to school or hospital because even in the schools and hospitals there are bomb blasts.
‘It is the government and the army who are doing this to the Tamil people.
‘People are sleeping in the roadside.
‘They can’t get the cooking oil, food, nothing.
‘The situation now is very bad.
‘I’m asking the British government to please help the Tamil people.
‘I think they should put sanctions on the Sri Lankan government.’
Sanju Iravi said: ‘Since the 1950s, after the British government left, there has been genocide against the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government.
‘Just before the British came there were three different states in Sri Lanka, a Tamil state, a Sinhalese state, and the mountain states.
‘When the British came, it was easier for them to govern them all as a whole, so they merged all the countries into one and called it the unified Ceylon.
‘And right now all we are asking for is to give us our separate state, as it was before.
‘When the British left Sri Lanka there were Tamils in good positions, as well as the Sinhalese.
‘But because of the Sinhalese majority, it’s always going to be a Sinhalese government.
‘Tamils had no problem with that until the 1980s, when they killed 15,000 Tamils for no apparent reason.
‘Since then, there’s been civil war going on, with Tamils asking for a separate land.
‘Right now, even though they’re part of Sri Lanka, there’s 200,000 Tamils without food, medicine or shelter, just because the government blocked the A9 road.
‘And when the UN and UNICEF tried to give them food, they said that even the Tamil people themselves are terrorists, so you can’t give them food – they blocked everything.
‘And one last fact is, when the Tsunami hit Sri Lanka, most of the casualties were Tamils, because they live by the sea.
‘The aid went to the Sri Lankan government, who were told to distribute it evenly, but most of the aid went to the Sinhalese.
‘All we want is for things to be how they were before the British arrived.
‘We just want what belongs to the Tamil people.’
Jeya and Sivakumaran said: ‘In Sri Lanka, in Vani, the Sri Lankan government is bombing civilians in that area.
‘Also, the aid workers, international aid workers from the UN and any other organisation, have been kicked out of the Vani area, where the people need help, by the Sri Lankan government.
‘In the past, the British government supplied arms to Sri Lanka.
‘And also it’s a long time ago that this problem started.
‘The Tamils ruled themselves, but after the British took over, and when they left, they turned the country over to the Sinhalese rulers.
‘Since then, the Tamils’ rights have been trampled on.
‘At the moment, the immediate thing is to stop the bombing.
‘The main hospitals have been evacuated because of the bombing.
‘And because the aid workers have been kicked out there is no food, in fact there’s been a shortage of food since the Sri Lankan government restarted the war.
‘And especially for the children – there is a lack of food, medication or hospital facilities and no schools for the children.
‘They are like slaves. This is how the Sri Lankan government is treating them.
‘Especially for the Tamil people they are doing these things.
‘Today, a Sri Lankan army commander told the press: this is a Sinhalese country, it belongs to the Sinhalese. The minority can live, but they can’t demand anything.
‘The army has built up Buddhist temples in Tamil areas, but destroyed Tamil temples.
‘The British government should put sanctions on the Sri Lankan government immediately.
‘The British government should demand the Sri Lankan government stop the war and go immediately to negotiations.
‘The Sinhalese army is raping women and children as well.
‘People are missing and we don’t know what has happened to them. That is the worst thing in the world.’
Vijeya said: ‘Our Tamil people are dying and every week I watch the news I feel very sad. I’m worried about them.
‘So many mothers have lost their children because of this bombing.
‘The army are killing innocent people.
‘So I have come here to support the Tamil people.
‘If you look at the whole history, Britain came to our country and they knew there were two different lands there and now Tamil people are affected.’
• See photo feature
