Thousands of Tamils from all over Germany demonstrated in Berlin Friday 24 April in the latest of a series of protests worldwide against the ongoing violence in their home country.
Organizers in the German capital said between 6,000 and 7,000 Tamils took part in the peaceful protests, carrying placards with slogans and photos of children maimed in the violence of recent weeks.
However, Berlin police said the demonstrators numbered around 2,000.
"We are demonstrating again to press for the German government to do more to help Tamils in Sri Lanka," an unnamed Tamil spokeswoman was quoted saying.
Recent fighting has sparked a wave of international concern for the fate of 50, 000 people still said by the U.N. to be trapped in the conflict zone.
The U.N. also estimates that as many as 6,500 civilians may have been killed and another 14,000 wounded in the fighting so far this year, diplomats said.
Up to 300,000 Tamil demonstrators have taken to the streets in Canada, and there have been other protests in Paris, London and elsewhere.
Prior to the Tamil rally at Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate, a group of around 250 people pelted the Chinese Embassy with eggs.
Tamil activists have repeatedly claimed that Chinese military hardware has been used by the Sri Lankan military to squash the Tamil insurgency.
Last week, the German government expressed major concern over the situation of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in a small war zone in northeastern Sri Lanka.
