Updated 01:00 BST 03/12/2012
Tamil university students from across the United Kingdom have released a joint statement criticising the intimidation which Jaffna University students faced in the days leading up to Maaveerar Naal and condemning the attacks on the student demonstration which followed.
In a statement released on Friday, Tamil Societies from 16 British universities joined with Tamil Youth Organisation UK to call for the international community to demand the release of the arrested students, condemning the "brazen attempts by Sri Lanka to deny the Tamil nation of this basic right, through intimidation, aggression and sheer violence."
See here for full press release.
Extracts reproduced below:
“It is unacceptable and reprehensible that any people or nation could be prevented by a government and its security forces from mourning and remembering its war dead. The recent events highlight more brazen attempts by Sri Lanka to deny the Tamil nation of this basic right, through intimidation, aggression and sheer violence.”
“The United Nations and the international community must recognise that Sri Lanka is showing no progress or even intention of respecting its democratic obligations. Instead Sri Lanka is further demonstrating utter disregard for the rights of Tamils on the island, as well as its intent to silence and punish any voice of dissent from the Tamil nation.”
“We call on the international community to recognise that these acts of repression are not singular, and are part of a historic, on-going and systematic genocide to subjugate the Tamil community – a programme that is characteristic of the Sri Lankan state since its independence in 1948.”
“We call for the United Nations and the international community to demand a concrete political solution to the Tamil question, taking into account the Tamil nation’s grievances, demands and right to self-determination.”
“Our thoughts are with our brothers and sisters in the North-East who continue to face this genocide today and we stand in solidarity with them as they struggle for their right to mourn our nation's loss.”
The statement was signed by:
BPP University College Tamil Society
Brunel University Tamil Society
Cambridge University Tamil SocietyCity University Tamil Society
Coventry University Tamil Society
International Tamil Society, Imperial College
International Tamil Society, University College London Union
King's College London Tamil Society
Leicester University Tamil Society
London Metropolitan University Tamil Society
London South Bank University Tamil Society
Queen Mary's Tamil Society
School of Oriental and African Studies Tamil Society
St George's University of London Tamil Society
Tamil Youth Organisation UK
University of Nottingham Tamil SocietyUniversity of Westminster Tamil Society
See also: Canadian Tamil youth condemn Jaffna uni attacks (30 Nov)
