June 09, London: A large cross section of Sri Lankans from all walks of life living in Britain gathered in front of the British Houses of Parliament in Westminster on Friday the 8th June to show their strongest protest at some British MPs who recently formed a group called ''The All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT)''.

The protest demonstration was organized by a group called ''Action Group On Sri Lanka- UK'' which is an umbrella group formed to represent all major Sri Lankan political parties and several civil organizations functioning in UK.

Protesters displayed a huge banner urging British MPs not to encourage LTTE (Tamil Tiger) terrorism among many other placards to show their dissent against APPGT. Slogans were shouted for over two hours showing disapproval of certain members of the APPGT who were seen to be sympathetic towards the LTTE and expressed views for lifting the ban on the outfit in Britain. These views were expressed at the adjournment debate on Sri Lanka at the House of Commons on 2 May 2007.

A spokesperson for the Action Group said that they organized the event to apprise the British government, members of parliament and the British public the true state of affairs of Sri Lankan problem in relation to LTTE terrorism and to convince them of the consequences if they take any steps to encourage LTTE terrorism.

A large Friday afternoon London public witnessed the demonstration by some 500 strong group of Sri Lankan protesters who came to support the protest despite being a working day in London.

(Pix: TISSA MADAWELA)