[Video Attached]More than 4000 participated in a campaign 'Boycott Sri Lanka" in Sydney’s George Street today. The rally, which began at Circular Quay by 1 PM, walked south towards Hyde Park and went on till 3 PM.
Throughout the rally anguished voices were heard calling aloud to ‘boycott Sri Lanka,’ ‘Australia stop the war,’ ‘Prabakaran our Leader,’ and many other slogans calling to stop the war and recognize Tamil struggle for self determination.
As part of the campaign, the demonstrators burnt and ripped apart boxes of tea, clothing made in Sri Lanka and official Sri Lankan tourism brochures, and them chucked in to the garbage bins.
The organizers told 'Tamil National' that they are persuading the public to boycott Sri Lankan products with the message that "Every dollar you spend that reaches Sri Lanka is being used to buy bombs and bullets which have killed over 6500 Tamil civilians in the last 3 months.”
The mass rally commenced today after the community called off all demonstrations on Saturday 25 April so that they too may be able to participate in ANZAC Day commemorations.
For the last several weeks, Australian Tamils have organised regular demonstrations nationwide protesting against the Sri Lankan government’s military campaign against the Tamils in the island, and urging the Australian government to pressure the Sri Lankan state into entering an immediate and permanent ceasefire. There have been up to 60 demonstrations nationwide over past several months, with more than four vigils and rallies last week in Sydney alone.
Thousands of Tamil civilians have died in a space of a few days with the Sri Lankan government increasing its military campaign in the so-called ‘no fire safe zone’. Yesterday, the United Nations estimated that nearly 6500 Tamil civilians have died in the last three months and a total casualty count of over 20, 000.
The last three days saw hundreds of Australian Tamils converge outside the offices of three Members of Parliament – Ms Julie Owens, Mr Joe Hockey and Mr Laurie Ferguson.
Several grass-roots initiatives have been organised by the Australian Tamil community, including a week long hunger strike which ended over a week ago.
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