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Thursday January 01 1970

Stop The Slaughter Of Tamils - Protest

national | anti-war / imperialism | event notice

Thursday April 16, 2009 16:13

by Laura Fitzgerald - Socialist Party

lauracfitzgerald at gmail dot com

5pm Wednesday 22nd April, Indian Embassy, 6 Leeson Pk. Dublin 6

Protest against the murderous Rajapaska regime in Sri Lanka

After a week of escalating protests worldwide against the mounting slaughter of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Rajapakse government announced a two-day halt to the fighting with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

This was for 13-14 April - the two days on which the Sri Lankan New Year is celebrated. But this did not constitute a ceasefire as demanded by the tens of thousands of protesters around the world who have been showing their opposition to the regime's slaughter of Tamils, nor a realistic opportunity to rescue the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the ‘no fire’ or horribly mis-named ‘safe zones’.

At best a few hundred badly injured men, women and children would have been evacuated by sea to hospitals like Pulmoddai, near Trincomalee and a few thousand more civilians would have been herded into the government’s barbed-wire encircled ‘transitional villages’. In fact, a handful of people left the area.

President Rajapakse denies point blank to the United Nations that any civilians have been coming under artillery fire from Sri Lanka's Army. Doctors and Human Rights organisations report otherwise. Civilians fleeing the area have told BBC reporters of almost constant gunfire and an acute lack of water, food and medicine. “We had nothing to eat for the last five days”, explained one man accompanying his wounded son to the Pulmoddai hospital after witnessing his wife being killed by a shell attack.

We need to continue to show our opposition to the atrocity facing Tamils at the hands of the Rajapaska regime. The Indian government is utterly complicit in these war crimes - PROTEST AT THE INDIAN EMBASSY, 5pm, Wednesday 22nd April, 6 Leeson Pk., Dublin 6.

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Comments (5 of 5)

Well done

by CodSout

Mon Apr 20, 2009 17:11

Its about time a protest was organised I hope of the left and anti-war people will show up.

everyone should attend...

by Pepe

Mon Apr 20, 2009 17:27

excellent that someone is taking the bother to organise something like this. See you there!

the genocide continues

by Marximus - SP/CWI

Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:51

The situation has taken a turn for the worse as this video on the bbc website shows. Some of the scenes are quite disturbing. Clearly the Sri Lankan Army are stepping up their campaign to wipe out the LTTE and in doing show now concern or remorse for Tamil civilians. This is a genocidal war. The mounting death toll - which can't be properly verified because the refusal of the Sri Lankan government to allow foreign journalists access to the region - must now exceed that of the recent conflict in Gaza or indeed the combined daily death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there is nowhere near the same level of coverage in the media. Everyone who has participated in the protests against the slaughter of the people of Gaza, or those of Iraq and Afghanistan, should try their best to attend this protest. Spread the word

Stop the genocide of the Tamils!

by Darren C - L5I (pc)

Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:38

The Sri Lankan Army has launched its “final assault” on the tiny 21 square kilometre area of land where some 100,000 Tamil civilians, plus the remaining fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are besieged. The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, dares to call this hell hole a “safe zone” and claims to be conducting a “rescue operation” to save the population, whom he describes as hostages of the Tigers.

More at - http://www.fifthinternational.org/index.php?id=247,1551...0,1,0

report on protest

by fgrt

Fri Apr 24, 2009 22:10

At 5pm on the 22nd of April, shouting 'Not a rupee, not a bullet, to the Rajapaska government', protesters gathered in front of the Indian Embassy at a picket called by the 'Stop the Slaughter of Tamils' campaign.

In the knowledge that the assault on Tamils in Sri Lanka was escalating during the moment of our protest, we shouted angrily, shaming the Indian government due to the fact that they are complicit in these unspeakable horrors being visited upon the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.

During the protest, Cillian of the Socialist Party spoke about against anti-democratic, capitalist and racist regime of Sri Lanka, as well as all the international imperialist powers that assist the regime. He urged the need for mass struggle internationally to stop the war, a war that disgracefully is barely being reported around the world.

You could hear a pin drop as a member of the Tamil community movingly addressed the crowd, detailing his despair after speaking to a family member trapped in the war-zone in Sri Lanka. Neither he, nor his family had eaten for days.

We handed in a letter of protest and plan to have further meetings and actions. Contact the Socialist Party for further details. Check out the campaign website - www.stoptheslaughteroftamils.org.

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Stop The Slaughter Of Tamils - Protest

Comments (5 of 5)