'March for Imprisoned Tamils' London 20 June 2009. People with photographs of Tamils missing or killed by Sri Lankan army


Around 100, 000 people, mainly Tamils, took to the streets of London for the 'March for Imprisoned Tamils' on 20 June 2009. Many of those taking part wore black, remembering 50,000 or more Tamils who have been killed in the recent conflict. Some carried photographs of relatives dead or disappeared - according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in one week this month, "over 13,000 internally displaced people disappeared from Sri Lanka’s internment camps for Tamil civilians". The protesters handed in a letter at Downing Street calling for the immediate release of all prisoners, for full access for humanitarian aid and for the prosecution of the Sri Lankan President, Defence Minister and Army Chief for war crimes. They also continue to demand a separate Tamil Homeland, Tamil Eelam, in Sri Lanka, and many carried the Tamil Eelam national flag which uses the LTTE tiger symbol. Tamils very much feel that they have been let down by the UN, the international community in general and Britain in particular as the ex-colonial power, and seem justified in doing so.


Size: 5040px × 3354px
Location: London, Engalnd, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ban, camps, ceylon, concentration, defeated, demonstration, eelam, freedom, imprisoned, internment, ki, lanka, london, ltte, march, massacre, moon, prabhakaran, sri, tamiils, tamil, tigers, uk, velupillai