Action Group of Tamil Asylum Seekers (AGTAS) held a successful protest at Trafalgar Square in Central London, against deportation of Tamil asylum seekers, sources from the UK said. The protest was well attended to and was held in support of 1000s of Tamils who are to be deported to Sri Lanka in the coming months.

The British government’s decision to deport Tamils, followed a serious of false promises by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that Tamils would not be targeted any longer by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

The British government has been accepting Tamils as political refugees since the late 70s, when the Sinhala majority began a campaign of genocide against the Tamil speaking people on the island.

Since then around 800, 000 Tamils have left the island to seek political asylum in several countries including Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France and India.

Meanwhile, the GoSL has been paying a number of Tamil speakers to give western states a false pretence that in 2006 the political situation has changed and that Tamils are safe on the island.

Meanwhile, AGTAS highlighted that;

(1) The Amnesty International stated in January 2006 that over a hundred people were killed in a month of bloodshed.

(2) Tension in the north has escalated since early December 2005 with numerous killings, arrests, claymore and landmine explosions.

(3) Emergency regulations currently in force allow for detention in police custody for up to 90 days. Hundreds of people were arrested in Colombo under these provisions during cordon and search operations conducted by the security forces at the end of December 2005.

(4) The UN Human Rights Committee stated they were concerned about persistent reports of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees by law enforcement officials and members of the armed forces ....... Obviously antennae have to go up when we hear of a state of emergency in the case of Sri Lanka` [Sir Nigel Rodley, one of the members of the 18-strong committee].

(5) Prof. Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, following a visit to Sri Lanka, stated: `the upsurge in judicial killings had been accompanied by a vacuum of investigative responsibility` and were `violating the right to life of a large number of Sri Lankans from all ethnic groups, and by undermining the peace process, putting at risk the lives of many more.`

(6) Just watch the news to see just how dangerous Sri Lanka is at the moment. It is devastated by conflict and Tsunami.

AGTAS claims that just following the news coming out of the island on a daily basis will make people aware of the dangers the Tamil people face on the island.

The British authorities are said to be re-thinking their asylum policies towards Tamils from the island of Sri Lanka.

‘Clearly if North-East is too dangerous for British citizens to travel to. It is just as dangerous for Tamils to live in. There are hundreds of killings and disappearances in the occupied areas including Jaffna, Trinco and Batticaloa,’ said a British citizen who participated in the protest.

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