Sri Lankans protest at the Commonwealth Conference

Sri Lankans protest at the Commonwealth Conference

One hundred and fifty noisy Sri Lankans gathered outside the International Conference Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland on Saturday 25 October, where a conference of the Heads of State of the Commonwealth countries was being held. The objective of the demonstration was exert growing pressure on the Government of UK and other Commonwealth countries to follow the example set by the USA, and a handful of other countries, in banning the activities of the Tamil Terrorists group LTTE. The crowd, which consisted of Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil people from Sri Lanka as well as English and Scottish supporters, was allocated a position next to of the conference hall between the hours of 11:00 and 13:30. "Due to tight security measures, permission was only granted to one hundred and fifty people", the organisers confirmed. Members of the Sri Lankan High Commission, who were present at the conference, enthusiastically greeted the crowd.

The majority of the crowd had banners and posters highlighting the barbaric acts committed by the Tamil Terrorists against unarmed, defenceless civilians. There were explicit pictures of children and infants who had been massacred using machetes by these self-claimed 'freedom fighters'. One poster had a picture of a mother who had been be-headed with her arm around her infant son, who's skull had been cracked, with the simple writing "How many more civilians have to die, for UK to ban the LTTE?". There were also about 15 Tamils in the crowd to demonstrate against the LTTE.

Many of the posters were aimed at the British Government, as it is believed that a significant proportion of the funds for the Tamil Terrorists are raised in the UK, often by means of defraud, such as false Social Welfare claims. The Tamil Terrorists have also been linked to the smuggling of drugs into the UK, amongst other countries. Hundreds of leaflets exposing acts of gross violation of Human Rights committed by the Tamil Terrorists were also distributed. A Scottish passer-by, who was asked for his comments on the demonstration replied "I can’t understand why these terrorists are not banned in the UK".

The crowd quickly swung into a typical Sri Lankan ‘baila’ rhythm, in order to express their point to the Heads of State. An extract of the lyrics, which were created on the fly, follows:

Stop funding - Tamil Terror Stop funding - Tamil Terror

Civilian killers - L-T-T-E Women killers - L-T-T-E Children killers - L-T-T-E Peace Killers - L-T-T-E Police Killers L-T-T-E Army Killers L-T-T-E Navy Killers L-T-T-E Gandhi Killers L-T-T-E Drug pushers L-T-T-E Welfare defrauders L-T-T-E

Stop funding - Tamil Terror Stop Funding - Tamil Terror India banned - L-T-T-E USA banned - L-T-T-E Canada banned - L-T-T-E Malaysia banned - L-T-T-E Tony Blair - Do the same Commonwealth - Do the Same Rest of the Word - Do the Same Tony Blair - Do the same Tony Blair - Do the same Tony Blair - Do the same

(c) Sinhaya

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