Across the globe Tamils are conducting hunger strikes to draw attention to the situation in Sri Lanka and to call for an immediate ceasefire to give respite to the civilian population that is the target of the Sri Lankan government onslaught.
As with the protests and marches, youth have taken the lead in the hunger strikes too, with some staging token fasts while others wow to fast until there is a permanent ceasefire or until their governments do something to pressure Sri Lanka into having more regard for Tail lives.
Many supporters compared the efforts of the hunger strikers to that of Lieutenant-Colonel Theleepan, a Tamil Tiger commander who is venerated for fasting to death in 1987.
London
Two men began a hunger strike at 6am on 7 April in London, wowing not to take food or water until their demands had been met. One has since temporarily given up his fast since British MPs have promised to arrange meetings with the UN, US and EU. The other faster has agreed to take liquids so as to delay any medical damage from the hunger strike, while these meetings occur. Both have wowed to return to their fast with no food or liquids if the meetings prove unfruitful.
Sivatharsan Sivakumaraval, 21, ended his protest after gaining assurances that he can travel to the United States, European Union and United Nations to discuss the plight of Tamil civilians with the authorities. Sivakumaraval said he had agreed to drink water after being promised he would be able to take part in talks on the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.
His mother, Vanisri, 38, told the Observer through a translator: "It's dreadful for a mother to see her son in pain and hunger. I only learned that he was going on hunger strike the day after he began. I was horrified."
At one stage, too weak to move, Sivatharsan lay with his head in his mother's lap. "I had no idea he was planning this. I tried to dissuade him, but it was too late. He was completely determined."
His fellow hunger striker, 28-year-old student Prarameswaran Subramaniam, agreed to take liquids on Friday but was continuing his fast next to the Houses of Parliament in London, with doctors monitoring his condition.
The hunger strikers have demanded that food and medical aid should be allowed to reach the civilians immediately with international monitoring committees and to allow "Mercy Mission," the Diaspora organised ship carrying humanitarian supplies to deliver aid to the region.
The main demand of the hunger strike is "immediate and permanent Ceasefire."
While talking to media, Sivakumaraval said that they demanded the UN to conduct a referendum on Tamil sovereignty if the International Community needed to prove the will of the Eelam Tamils. The UN-led referendum should be conducted in a free and fair environment without military occupation and that the members of the Tamil Diaspora, forced to leave the island due to the military aggression by the Sri Lankan state, should also take part in the referendum.
Sivakumaraval agreed to suspend his hunger strike in order to travel to the United Nations in New York with Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, who has been involved in negotiations on behalf the Tamils, and Labour MP Des Browne, the government's special envoy to Sri Lanka.
Subramaniam has relaxed his hunger strike only as far as agreeing to take a few sips of water each day. Subramaniam, who arrived in Britain only three weeks ago, said his mother, his sisters, his brother and his nephew had been killed in the past few days.
"I'm going to stay here until we get what we want," he whispered. "I'm not going to step back from my demands until my death. I will take a little water each day to prolong the hunger strike until my friends come back, but the deadline is 21 April and, if our demands have not been met by then, I will stop even taking water. I am not afraid."
Sivatharsan said his grandmother and cousins are in the area under attack by the Sri Lankan military and that he has not been able to contact them. He stated that: "I don't know what has happened to them.
David Parajasingham, a spokesman for the British Tamils' Forum, said that he was concerned the hunger strike would spread.
"If our demands for the cessation of the genocide in Sri Lanka are not met, I fear this protest will escalate by others joining them," he said. "In our culture, when people do this, they follow it through. They are not afraid to die."
Sivakumaraval said that, although he had agreed to suspend his hunger strike to enable him to travel to the US, he will return to it if the government does not meet his demands by the deadline in 10 days' time.
"All over the world, Tamil students are doing hunger strikes to pressurise the international community and governments to open their eyes and look at the genocide that's happening to our people," he said.
"I am not afraid to die. I have sat in my living room and watched on TV as more than 200,000 of my people are shelled and bombed to death. They are afraid. I am just doing what I can in support of them."
Paris
In Paris, four Tamil youth under 30 are wowing to fast unto their death if there is no change in Sri Lanka. They began their fast on 9 April, sitting near the Wall for Peace in Paris near the French Military Academy. Members of Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) in France distributed pamphlets describing Sri Lanka government’s genocide of the Tamils to the tourists who visit the Wall for Peace monument from all over the world.
Selvakumar Alfred, 27, Anandakumaraswamy Raviraj, 26, Vigneswaran Varunan, 23 and Shanmugaraja Navaneethan, 26 are the four Tamil youths who continue to fast unto death joining in the worldwide protest demonstrations by expatriate Tamils. Their demands are an immediate ceasefire to stop the genocide of Tamils by Sri Lanka state, immediate humanitarian assistance for the people trapped in the ‘safe zone’, a cessation to attacks on civilians using chemical weapons by the Sri Lankan and Indian armies and a lifting of the proscription on the Liberation Tigers.
Day and night, thousands from the Tamil Diaspora in France, including mothers, children and elderly, sit with the fasters, taking part emotionally in the protest in the face of lashing rain and the biting cold.
Zurich
In Zurich, four Tamil youth fasted from Monday 6 April to Saturday 11 April as a protest against the actions of the Sri Lankan government. More than a thousand Diaspora Tamils of all ages participated in protests across the country, with many travelling to Zurich to sit with the hunger strikers and share their emotional burden.
Ottawa
In Ottawa, six Tamils, V. Yogendran, M Sivaneswari, 54, K Thulasigamany, 59, Julius James, 34, N Pushparajamani, 46, and N Thaiyalnayaki, 67, are also on a hunger-strike. They have undertaken this extreme form of self-deprivation to highlight the plight of their friends and next of kin who are facing a dire situation in Vanni.