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Rajapaksa faces Tamil protest

LONDON: Sri Lankas President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is here to attend a meeting of Commonwealth leaders, faced protests by pro-LTTE elements of British Tamils on Tuesday.

They held a noisy demonstration outside the Commonwealth Secretariat to demand an end to what they called 60 years of oppression of Tamil minority. Protesters, who came from across Britain, waved placards saying Welfare not Warfare and raised slogans demanding protection of Sri Lankan Tamils human rights.

Slogans in support of the LTTE and its leader Velupillai Prabakaran were also raised, though organisers were at pains to explain that they did not approve of LTTEs methods. Earlier, the British Tamils Forum, which organised the protest, gave a memorandum to the Commonwealth Secretariat calling for sanctions against Sri Lanka and its eviction from the 53-member body.

The forums spokesman said if the Commonwealth did not act it would be partly responsible for the situation in Sri Lanka. He urged British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to entertain Mr. Rajapaksa. We also want India to use its influence with the Sri Lankan government, said Suren Surendiran, a senior official of the forum.

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