Tamil activists in Germany participated at the International Pentecostal Youth Meeting on June 11 in Gelsenkirchen, raising awareness of the Sri Lanka’s persecution of the Tamils, and marking Tamil Student Uprising Day.
The International Pentecostal Youth Meeting brings together youth groups, youth associations, bands, sports groups, youth clubs, parties, other organizations and individuals from around the world.
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Representatives of the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) Germany staged an exhibition of Tamil heritage, distributed leaflets and held discussions with youth from Germany and other places
The leaflets highlighted the findings of the UN expert panel’s report, released in March, on Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
“This was a great opportunity for us to get into contact with youths from different countries and with different heritages and discuss Sri Lanka” TYO spokesperson Jeyathan Yogarajah said.
“It is amazing that so many youths are already informed about the Tamils and the struggle in our homeland. Of course, some of them did not know the full situation,” he added.
“Despite our differences, we all share the same values: freedom and self-determination should be the basic rights of any individual.”
The activists also marked Tamil student Uprising Day, in memory of Pon. Sivakumaran, a Jaffna Tamil student activist in the early seventies who committed suicide on June 5 1974 to escape torture in Sri Lankan police custody.
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