It would be hard not to feel a great sympathy for the Tamils. The world – including the UN and of course our own government have for many years decided to turn a blind eye to the takeover of Sri Lanka by the majority Sinhalese. Britain failed to protect their interests when we gave Ceylon independence, failed to inspire Commonwealth action over the years, but particularly at the time of the creation of Sri Lanka. The world looked away (or gave encouragement and arms) as the Sri Lankan government imposed a military solution on the Tamil areas, killing many thousands of civilians as well as the Tamil Tigers.
The Tamils were calling for the release of the over 280,000 Tamil civilians – including at least 50,000 children – still held in miserable and squalid conditions in camps run by the Sri Lankan military. They want international aid agencies and press to have access to the camps and a full independent investigation of the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government and army. They have lost faith in the UN and its General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.
At the start of the demonstration at Temple, protesters seemed rather thin on the ground and the mood seemed one of resignation and dejection, rather than the energetic enthusiasm of the much larger demonstrations before the military defeat. Even the ‘prisoners’ in the mock concentration camp leading the march seemed subdued, although by the time I left the march as it turned up Northumberland Ave they were noticeably more animated.
But it was a difficult event to find anything to photography, which is perhaps why rather more than usual of my pictures were taken from a distance, looking down from the footbridge on the east side of the Hungerford Bridge (now one of the two bridges on each side of the rail bridge.)
I wasn’t particularly happy with the pictures I took. I had hoped to catch up with them later in the afternoon before the march reached Hyde Park, but with the smaller numbers the police were able to pressure them to walk rather faster than on previous occasions where they had taken over the roadway and by the time I was able to get back the march had finished. You can see them as usual on My London Diary.