The brutal way in which thousands of Tamil people, who had been demonstrating in Westminster for the last few days were dispersed last night by the police, should be condemned by all those who value human rights. Most of the protesters were refugees driven out by the conflict. It appears that 11 protesters were injured and 10 arrested. On Monday the Tamils had been forced out of Parliament Square, where they had been demanding that the British Government intervene and onto Westminster Bridge. Now they have been attacked in the middle of the nigh, driven away, and their protest brought to an end.
Socialist Resistance published this editorial statement on May 19, 2009.
All this was in brutal disregard of the fact that these were traumatised people who have been witnessing a bloodbath in their homeland for weeks, who have seen war crime after war crime taking place, and who have been witnessing a massive defeat of their long struggle for national independence. Most of them have lost family members or whole families in the final offensive of the Sri Lankan military who were clearly under orders to take no prisoners and to act in disregard of the presents of many tens of thousands of civilians. Even those who surrendered faced summary execution.
The Sri Lankan government has today officially announced its victory. Those who have been celebrating the defeat of the LTTE in Colombo, however, should remember that this is not just a defeat for the Tamil people it is a defeat for all progressive trends of opinion in Sri Lanka and a victory worst elements of Sinhala nationalism. It is a defeat for the Sri Lankan working class, the trade unions and working class political parties.