‘Tamil Tigers Lift the Banner! Tamil Tigers Lift the Banner!’ This is what young Tamil workers chanted having just prevented the police from pulling down their flag.
Three police officers tried to humiliate the Tamils by forcibly grabbing their flag which had been lifted by a large inflatable in the centre of the square and was flying over Parliament Square.
Tamil youth responded by driving the police off the square and into a corner while Tamil elders and stewards kept the crowd from driving the police into the street.
Aton Johnson said: ‘They took our banner and our national flag.
‘The guy was holding a flag lifted on a helium balloon, and three police came to pick on him. What is the point of taking the flag?
‘The police are deliberately creating a problem. People are protesting while genocide is being committed in Sri Lanka.
‘There is no violence here, we have many flags, but the police are trying to create the problem.
‘But our organisations and people will not be provoked. We are self-disciplined.
‘The intention of the police is to evacuate this protest from the area, so because of that they want to create problems all the time.
‘We have been protesting for 45 days and we will keep it up.’
Nythia from the British Tamil Students said: ‘We are going to continue the struggle here, whether it is 100 days or a thousand days.
‘When we have won our rights in Sri Lanka then we will end it.’
Speaking of the role of the British government, Raj, a railway man and member of the RMT union, said: ‘The parliamentarians have done nothing and the UN has done nothing.
‘They come down here and say they will do something but it is just a ploy.
‘None of the governments around the world can be trusted.
‘Not in India, or China or Russia, Britain or America.
‘They represent the rich man and the capitalist class.
‘They are not interested in the workers or the poor people. We must find a way to deal with them.
‘The Tamils are being treated like animals. In fact they are not even treated as well as animals.
‘Things are going to change. We are British citizens and Tamils are turning against the British government.’
