28 January 2009

Protest against Sri Lankan army genocide of Tamil population

Global Peace and Justice Auckland is supporting a rally and march organised by the New Zealand Tamil Community for next Wednesday 4th February.

The protest is make the public aware of the murderous attacks on Tamils by the Sri Lankan military in the past two weeks. This follows the Sri Lankan army fighting their way into Tamil areas in North-East Sri Lanka where they are trying to suppress the Tamil struggle for self-determination.

In the meantime we are appealing to the new Foreign Minister Murray McCully to speak out against massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka. We want him to make a direct appeal to the Sri Lankan government to reign in its troops who are engaged in a thinly disguised genocide of the civilian population in the North-East of Sri Lanka. The International Red Cross have talked about a human catastrophe unfolding. New Zealand must be active in doing all it can to avert this disaster.

The protest is organised by COTANZ (Consortium of Tamil Associations of New Zealand) and GPJA will be giving support. The protest is timed for Sri Lanka's national day of independence next week. It will be a reminder that as the majority Sinhalese population celebrate Sri Lanka's national day the Tamil people continue to suffer brutal oppression.

The protest is on -

Wednesday 4th February

3pm to 7pm (march at 5pm)

Aotea Square

Background

The Tamil people are engaged in a struggle for self determination in their area of North-East Sri Lanka. Their struggle has an armed wing (the Tamil Tigers) which has recently lost several battles as the Sri Lankan army, dominated by members of the majority Sinhalese population, has moved into Tamil areas.

The Tamil people are 18% of Sri Lanka's population and have a different ethnicity, religion, language and geography from the majority Sinhalese population. Their modern struggle for self-determination dates to before the time of British colonial rule. (The British left in 1948)

ENDS

© Scoop Media