Photograph Pathivu

Thousands of British Tamils marched through London on Friday afternoon calling for an UN referendum on an independent state of Tamil Eelam.

Rejecting Sri Lanka's LLRC, protesters called for an investigation into the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan state and demanded "action, not words". Drawing attention to the Sri Lankan state's use of rape as a weapon of war, British Tamils condemned the Sri Lankan state's destruction of the Tamil nation.

Photograph Pathivu

Protesters also expressed solidarity with the protests of the Tamil Nadu students and welcomed the Tamil Nadu State Assembly's call for a referendum across the Eelam Tamil nation.

The protest march, organised by the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC), commenced at Trafalgar Square and took a route through central London, which was bustling with Londoners and tourists on Easter vacation.

Photograph Pathivu

The crowds were addressed by speakers including the acclaimed Tamil Nadu film director Bharathiraja and the Tamil Youth Organisation UK.  

Addressing the crowds, a member of the TYOUK said:

"The documented history of failed Sri Lankan domestic inquiries, outlined in the UN high commissioner’s report, exemplifies the fact that any domestic investigation into war crimes by Sri Lanka will offer no fruitful outcome. Sri Lanka’s evident disregard towards the rule of law, deteriorating human rights situation, increasing assault on dissenting voice and opinion, lack of transparency, and well documented torture of prisoners and witnesses, demonstrate that Sri Lanka is incompetent and unwilling to conduct its own independent investigation. The widely critiqued LLRC report and flawed Army Court Inquiry are clear examples of Sri Lanka’s inability to address accountability and justice issues.

We the Tamil Youth, henceforth stand by the Tamil Nadu resolution’s calls for India to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly country, and impose sanctions until there is an international probe into genocidal war crimes in Sri Lanka and an end to the oppression of Eelam Tamils.

We therefore renew our call to the international community, to urgently implement a mechanism that will allow an independent and international commission of inquiry into all allegations of crimes against humanity and genocide to take place."

Photograph Pathivu