Tamil Australians protest Sri Lanka rights abuses

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 May 2007, 03:12 GMT]
Several hundred Tamil Australians protested in front of the Victoria Parliament in Melbourne Tuesday, highlighting the escalating number of abductions and killings of Tamils in the NorthEast and in Colombo, sources in Melbourne said. The protest started at 2:30 p.m and lasted for three hours, attendees said.

Protesters carried placards with photographs of those disappeared and Tamil politicians killed, and shouted slogans condemning the Sri Lanka security forces for committing gross human rights violations.

Protesters also condemned the recent abductions of high school students in Jaffna, and the disruption of educational activities in the Jaffna Campus, widely blamed on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the SLA-backed paramilitaries, attendees to the protest said.

The protest organized by the Victoria Eelathamil Sangam was attended by several representatives of Australian political parties, Trade Union representatives, student representatives and other Tamil professionals, leading activists said.