Tamil Protesters besiege London's Parliament Square
(8 April 2009)

Thousands of Tamil protesters have brought traffic chaos to London's Parliament Square as they gathered to protest the Sri Lankan Government's offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE). As the London demonstrations threatened to escalate, with around 1,000 gathering last night, two Tamil students jumped off Westminster bridge to highlight alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. The UN says more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and 7,000 injured in the fighting in the last two months, but the Sri Lankan government disputes these figures.

Protesters say thousands of Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka are in danger as the government pursues a policy of ethnic cleansing. A 48-hour ceasefire was due to expire today. Paramesweran Subramaniyam arrived in Britain four weeks ago having fled violence in the town of Vanni, where thousands are trapped after government forces attempted to crush Tamil Tiger rebels after a 30-year civil war

Mr Subramaniyam has gone without food since last Tuesday and says he plans to die in front of the House of Commons unless the UN acts to stop the Sri Lankan government's offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels. Mr Subramaniyam, 28, whose entire family is thought to have died in the conflict, is on his eighth day of fasting. He has consented to drink water to prolong his hunger strike. Huddled beneath duvets, he weakly told London's Evening Standard newspaper: "We will succeed. If something happens to me others will carry on. I don't care about my body's condition."

Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, who is facilitating the visits, said four groups of two to three British Tamil students, each accompanied by a British MP or MEP, would hold meetings with the UN in New York, the US administration in Washington, the EU council of Ministers in Brussels and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth in London. Plans would be finalised in the next two days, he said.

Don't bring London to a standstill Mayor tells Tamil Protesters
(20 April 2009)

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has urged the organisers of the Tamil protests in Parliament Square to express their views in a restrained and responsible manner. Boris Johnson met a delegation of the Tamil protest organisers at City Hall this afternoon. He told them that the British public were far more likely to view their case sympathetically if they did not cause unnecessary disruption and chaos in central London.

The Mayor expressed deep concern for Tamil hunger striker Prarameswaran Subramaniam and reiterated his support for the demonstrators' right to peaceful protest. But he encouraged them to avoid blocking roads and disrupting traffic. The delegation agreed to urge fellow protesters to heed that call.

The Mayor said: "Every Londoner has a right to peaceful protest and the Tamils have understandable reason to be concerned about events in Sri Lanka. I, like many others, would like to see a ceasefire in the country. But I also have a duty to ensure central London is not brought to a standstill."