The city of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia has banded together to help save a Tamil family from being deported to Sri Lanka, reports The Border Mail.
Hundreds of people attended a rally at Alfred Deakin Place to demand Neelavannan Paramanathan, his wife Suganthini and their three children are not deported back to Sri Lanka, where they face the risk of human rights abuses.
“There are children, families and people from all over Victoria at this gathering who just want assurances that this family will be safe,” said rally organiser and refugee advocate Kath Morton.
Alongside her was Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates who said the family was “involved in voluntary work and in their school communities” and “just really loved by the people who know them”.
"It's time the government showed humility," said Rural Australians for Refugees member Cathie Bond.
See more from The Border Mail here.
The rally comes a week after the International Truth and Justice Project: Sri Lanka (ITJP) documented the testimonies of twenty Tamil torture survivors who had escaped Sri Lanka to four different countries after seeking asylum.
See more in our earlier post: Systemic torture and rape oppressing Tamils under new Sri Lanka government (05 Jan 2016)