NZ Tamils Protest in Wellington

Thursday, 19 February 2009, 12:16 pm
Article: The Scoop Team

NZ Tamils Protest in Wellington

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Close to one hundred New Zealanders of Tamil descent rallied outside the British High Commission in Wellington this morning lobbying the commission to the plight of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Protesters came from all over New Zealand; organisers stating that over half had traveling from Auckland to deliver their message to the capital.

When organisers spoke to Scoop, they said that the protest also planned to visit the Indian High Commission and the American Embassy before finishing up at Parliament around 1pm.

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Banners stating ‘Stop the Genocide’ flew, and protesters chanted ‘stop killing Tamils, stop killing children.’

“Many of those marching today have family members who have recently been killed in the conflict" said one protest organiser.

"The Sri Lankan Government designates safety zones and then goes and bombs them... they are using food and medicine as weapons.”

Conflict in Sri Lanka has heightened recently since the breakdown of the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) late last year.

On the 2nd of January 2009, the Sri Lankan Military took long time Tamil Tiger stronghold Kilinochchi in Northern Sri Lanka.

ENDS

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