Former chief cricket writer at The Age (Australia), Trevor Grant has written on his experiences protesting against Sri Lanka and the intimidation tied with it.
See here for full article.
Extracts reproduced below:
"As I was... handing out leaflets to the crowd on the opening day of the Test match, I noticed a... man of Sri Lankan or Indian appearance... taking photographs of me."
"I was curious because it was obvious he wasn't a press photographer... because when I moved towards him, he ran away and tried to hide..."
"My Australian-Tamil friend, Kartheeban Arul, from the Sydney branch of the Tamil Youth Organisation, tells me that this is a regular occurrence whenever Tamils attend a protest in Australia that is directed at the Sri Lankan government. He says the Tamil community is convinced these men work for the Sri Lankan embassy. Their job is to provide identification of Tamil protesters, which is used by government security agents to harass friends and relatives back in Sri Lanka."
"It was the second time in as many protests that I saw this stalking and intimidation."
"A few days after I wrote an opinion piece in this newspaper last month, a column that argued for a boycott of the Sri Lankan cricket team by the Australian government and Cricket Australia, a man claiming to be a ''concerned citizen'' rang me on my mobile phone."
"He said I had grossly misrepresented Sri Lanka and the government treatment of the Tamils. He said it was obvious I was being seduced by terrorists. He wanted to meet me to explain the error of my ways."
"I met him for a coffee and he spoke at length to me about the wonderful place Sri Lanka had become since President Rajapaksa had killed off the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and ended the civil war. He offered to arrange a trip for me to see all this peace and serenity for myself."
"He seemed more knowledgeable about the Sri Lankan government than the average ''concerned citizen''. I didn't have to guess any more about his links when he produced from a wad of papers a document headed: ''English translation of the document recovered from a LTTE hideout in Wanni by security forces during humanitarian operations''."
"It purported to be a document showing that a prominent Tamil activist in Australia was a member of the Tamil Tigers. I have spoken to the person whose full personal details are contained in the document. The person claims it is a fraud."
"I recently sent a letter to Foreign Minister Bob Carr asking whether he thought it was appropriate for officials from a foreign embassy to photograph Australian citizens in this manner, and other questions."
