Sri Lankan Protesters Urge Ban on Tamil Rebels in BritainAround 2,000 Sri Lankan protesters headed by Deputy Minister of Social Services Mervyn Silva handed over on Tuesday a petition to the British High Commission demanding the ban of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in Britain.The protesters marched from the statue of the assassinated former Prime Minister Bandaranaike, father of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, at Galle Face here to the British High Commission. Wijaya Balapatabendi, Co-ordinating Secretary of the Ministry of Social Services said that one of the objectives of the demonstration march was to bring about pressure on British authorities to ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the country under the new anti-terrorist legislation introduced by the British government last week. Previously the government strongly urged Britain to ban LTTE and said that relations between the two countries would be severely affected if the organization is not proscribed under Britain's new anti-terrorist law. The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for an independent state for minority Tamils. The rebels launched their propaganda campaign against the government in their international headquarters in London and collected funds there from the country' s expatriates to fight the long-running ethnic war. |
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