Tamils march to save ‘imprisoned’ brethren in Sri Lanka [BTF 2009.06.20]

Over 100,000 people converged on the streets of London on Saturday 20 June 2009 to remember the tens of thousands that perished in the Sri Lankan state’s final onslaught against the Tamil civilians and to call for the release of 300,000 that remain under threat of death, disappearance, rape and torture in government-run internment camps.

Protesters, carrying black flags and adorned in dark attire, marched to rouse the UK and international
community into action over the following three demands:
• Stop the disappearances, rapes and torture occurring daily in the internment camps and find all those who were unaccounted for.
• Free people from the camps immediately so that they can return to their normal lives.
• Bring the perpetrators of the genocide against the Tamils to justice.
The Tamil community disappointed and embittered by the failure of the UK and other international powers, to prevent the recent carnage despite constant and repeated warnings, pleaded that the international community must at least act now decisively to save the ‘imprisoned’ civilians in these camps, who remain in grave danger. [More........] Pictures and Memorandum

Urgent Appeal to Protect Victims of Genocide [BTF Press release 27.05.2009]
 

UN estimates over 7,000 civilians, many of them children, died in the final offensive by the Sri Lankan military, however according to reliable sources the figure is likely to be as high as 25,000. The Sri Lankan State still forbids access to international free media.
“The UN confirmed this week that as many as 300,000 Tamil refugees are now jammed
into the camps dubbed "welfare villages". Western journalists have been banned from
going near them.”
Dan McDougall, Award-winning reporter, undercover in Sri Lanka’s refugee camps reported in News of the World, 24 May 2009. Posing as an aid worker, he witnessed first hand the poignant scenes at the camps; “A child no more than two-years-old toddles naked towards the razor wire imprisoning her and her family. Terrified of retribution, parents pull the child away. Many of the refugees are dressed only in rags and tattered clothing. Chicken pox and skin diseases are sweeping through the camp and hepatitis is a growing problem because of poor sanitation.”
The Sri Lankan government has, to date, rejected pleas by various governments and the Secretary- General of the UN for immediate access to humanitarian aid agencies in to the camps. Preoccupied by destroying the evidence of the genocide, the Sri Lankan State is wary about allowing independent witnesses to the Tamil homeland.
Tamils in every part of Sri Lanka are held under siege. In the North and East, they are brutalise  [More.............]

Urgent Appeal by the British Tamils Forum [BTF 2009.05.11]
The British Tamils Forum urgently appeals to the British government to do all they can to stop the massacre of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, the fatal and final stage of the genocide of Tamils.

Reliable reports received by the British Tamils Forum, from the ‘safe zone’ in Northern Sri Lanka confirms that over 3,200 civilians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the past twenty four hours alone. Rescue workers fear that the critical shortage of medicine and lack medical facilities will add to this death toll. Sources further confirm that the Sri Lankan forces continue to bombard the ‘safe zone’ with K-fir jets, multi-barrel rocket launchers, cannons and cluster bombs.
British Tamils Forum has been in constant contact with the British political establishment, warning them of the imminent carnage unfolding in the Vanni Region, as part of this genocide. The Foreign Secretary, Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP, spoke to his counterpart in Sri Lanka yesterday, the details of which, has not been disclosed........[More......]

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