6 April 2009 - Thousands of Tamil protestors occupy parliament square demanding international action as slaughter of Tamil civilians in North-East escalates

6 April marks the 9th anniversary of the parliament square protests. Following 2 weeks of protest outside British parliament the number of demonstrators escalated to thousands in response to the intensified shelling of Tamil civilians in the North-East of Sri Lanka. Thousands of protestors took to the streets and staged a sit down demonstration in front of the Houses of Commons.

For an eye-witness account of the events see here.

The demonstrations went on to be the largest ever protests outside parliament in its recorded history.

Photographs: The Guardian

 Medical officials in the Vanni reported continuous shelling of the No Fire Zone, where an estimated 100,000 Tamil civilians were trapped.

Sri Lanka’s Minister for National Dialogue Mano Ganesan announced that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister did not agree to the Tamil National Alliance’s demands when soliciting the party’s support to defeat the no-confidence motion.

Mr Ganesan was speaking journalists after a function in Dehiwalal, Colombo, reports dailymirror.lk.

Displaced families given army-built houses in Varuththalai Vilaan, Telippalai this week, expressed concern over the coninued functioning of military checkpoints close to the new housing scheme. 

Thirty houses military built houses were handed over to families displaced from areas including Valikaamam North at an event yesterday. 

Residents were also forced to take out loans in order to invest in suitable windows, doors, bathroom fittings, as the Rs 800,000 allocated by the government for the houses was insufficient for adequate quality goods. 

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Resettlement yesterday pledged to release 650 acres in Valikaamam North by April 16. 

The pledge was announced by the Ministry's secretary, Ponniah Suresh, at an event yesterday where 30 houses built by the military were handed over to displaced people of Varuththalaivilaan. 

The section of Point Pedro road, which was recently opened only for the use of public buses, would be made open for civilians on April 16, Mr Suresh told those gathered at the event. 

The Sri Lankan Army’s attempted land-grab of Muslim owned land in Batticaloa has been stopped after pressure from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

The leader of the SLMC, Rauff Hakeem reportedly laid down the cancellation of the land-grab of 25 acres of Muslim-owned land in Punnaikuda - Eravur as a condition for supporting the Sri Lankan Prime Minister to defeat the no-confidence motion brought against him on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is reported to have spoken to the relevant officials to ensure that the current attempts at seizing the lands were stopped and that no future attempts at seizing land would be made in the area.

A six member delegation of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to make progress in implementing international human rights conventions relevant to GSP+ tarde concession, reports Colombo Gazette.

The delegation, who are on a 3 day visit to Sri Lanka, met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and key parliamentarians to follow up on the country’s commitments made in exchange for access to the European Union (EU) market. The delegation also met members of civil society. 

The Sri Lankan Army is demanding 880 million rupees to release 530 acres of occupied land in the North. The resettlement ministry has said it is requesting the funds from the finance ministry in order to secure the release of Tamil civilians’ land.

The Secretary to the Ministry for Resettlement, Ponniah Suresh, stated the amount at an event in Tellippalai on Thursday.

The resettlement ministry last year said it was paying the Sri Lankan Army around 148 million rupees to vacate Tamil-owned land in Keppapulavu, Mullaitivu, however those lands are yet to be returned to their owners.

Buddhist monks, military and police personnel gathered at the foundation laying ceremony of a new Buddhist Vihara in Muthur, Trincomalee.

The latest construction, forms a long list of Buddhist Vihara projects that Sri Lanka's army has been involved in across the traditionally Tamil regions of the North-East. The demographic make of Muthur consists largely of the Tamil and Muslim community. 

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman Prof. G. L. Peiris vowed to repeal the Office on Missing Persons, if his party were to come to power at the next general elections.

Speaking to reporters Prof Peiris said that the Inland Revenue Act (IRA), Office on Missing Persons Act (OMPA) and Active Liability Management Act (ALMA) would all be “scrapped immediately”, according to The Island.

The SLPP won control of 231 local councils out of a total of 340 in this year’s local council elections, sweeping across the south of the island.

The militarisation of the Jaffna peninsula looks set to continue, as the Sri Lankan army announced that it will be taking on a project to renovate 100 Hindu temples this week.