Tamil Americans protest in front of US Capitol

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 09:37 GMT]
More than two hundred American Tamils from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka held a protest in the West Front park of US Capitol building Monday between 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. urging the US Government to take action against Colombo for its war crimes against the Northeast Tamils. The rally also remembered the civilians killed in the Black July 1983 pogrom against Eelam Tamils.


Arrangements for the peace march and protest, including the obtaining the legal permit for the protest from the US Capitol Police, were made by US Tamils of Indian origin.

The marchers urged the US Government to:

• take the lead in acknowledging that the actions of GoSL against Eelam Tamils constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,
• force the GoSL to refrain from targetting Tamil civilians,
• ban visits of Sri Lanka military personnel to the US,
• stop military training of Sri Lanka armed forces, and to
• pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate in good faith with the Liberation Tigers toward a political solution to the Tamil national question which recognizes the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.

The rally was attended by supporters living in Baltimore-Washington area and from other states.

Chronology: