Support Tamil people's protest in Parliament Sq

Dear friends,

My name is Maria Gallastegui and I co-ordinate the Peace Strike in Parliament Square.  I have lived in the Square for over three years.  I am asking for help on behalf of Tamil people who have been protesting for over eight weeks outside Parliament in the Square. 

1. For the ongoing protest against the slaughter and detention of Tamil people;  and
2. Against heavy-handed police action in Parliament Square aimed at silencing their protest.

Please write to your MP, the UK government and to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner (details below)

Most  protesters have lost family members in the slaughter in Tamil Eelem.  Thousands more will die unless urgent action is taken. 

o       Over 300,000 people are detained in conditions that remind us of concentration camps, herded behind barbed wire with the military preventing anyone leaving.  People are desperate to return to their homes and villages.

o       40,000 people were killed in the No Fire Zone; almost half the casualties were children. Thousands were wounded and have severe injuries from gunshot, artillery and chemical weapons. About 30,000 have lost limbs.  There is hardly any medical care; people are being left to die in agony from untreated wounds.  People describe being surrounded by the bodies of those who have died.

o       The trauma of being trapped in the war zone has been compounded by conditions in the camps: children are separated from their families and held in separate camps; women, children and men are strip-searched; there are many reports of rape; there is little food and a severe lack of water; infectious diseases are spreading.  

o       There are reports of women being forcibly sterilized.

o       The army seizes young women and men from the camps and takes them away, no one knows where.

o       There are many reports of injured civilians who took refuge in bunkers, being buried alive by Sri Lankan Forces.

o       The Sri Lankan government denies what is going on, and the UN has refused to investigate atrocities and war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military.

“The Sri Lankan government is burying the evidence of their crimes.  They won’t let human rights groups, aid agencies, or journalists in to report on what is going on.  They aim to cover up the atrocities committed before any outsiders witness it.  This genocide is aimed at depopulating the region so the government can seize Tamil land.”    Uma, young Tamil women  

“Many of us have family in other Tamil areas.  We fear for their lives because when the government finishes with people in the camps, what is to stop them moving on to other Tamil areas?”   Sanjee, young Tamil man

For more information:
http://www.tamilsforum.com/; www.eurotvlive.com; www.tamilnet.com; www.tyouk.org.

The Times  “The Hidden Massacre”, 29 May 09 www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6387782.ece

For two months, thousands of Tamil people have peacefully occupied Parliament Square calling on the British government to help stop this slaughter.  Women and children are prominent in all the organizing.   Police harassment and violence towards the protestors is escalating. An eye witness describes one incident on 18 May:

“About a thousand people were in the Square including women, children and older people.  Some were sleeping.  At 1am masses of police surrounded the protesters.  Without warning, they started shoving and kicking people, even children and older people.  They trod on people with heavy boots, especially people’s legs and feet; they even trod on the face of an older man who wasn’t able to get up quickly.  Even those officers designated as medics were joining in the violence – surely that is not their job. Some people were picked up and thrown aside, others were dragged screaming across the pavement. Some women had their clothing torn off, the police didn’t care.  A number of people suffered fractures, or pulled joints and ligaments. People were in shock by the way they were treated.”   Bala, young man Parliament Sq

Now the police are confiscating the flag of Tamil Eelem to provoke a confrontation to clear the Square.  The police falsely claim it is the flag of the Tamil Tigers, a proscribed ‘terrorist organization’ and therefore banned. Any Tamil person who lifts the flag is fined and banned from the Square yet  anti-terrorism officers are on film admitting that the flag is not illegal.  www.youtube.com/sanjee05. 

Please protest against this police violence and provocation by writing to:

Please protest to your MP and the government : demand that people be allowed the leave the camps and get food, water, medical help and other resources. The media must be allowed access.  Demand that the camps immediately be put under UN protection, and the UN immediately investigate atrocities and war crimes committed against Tamil people.  Write to:

Gordon Brown

10 Downing Street

London SW1A 2AA

You can find your MP on http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Anything you can do to add your voice to our protest will help save the lives of our loved ones and to stop this genocide.

Contact:  MARIA GALLASTEGUI:  Peace Strike Parliament Square  07886 662 091 pavementmaria@3mail.com

     Global Women’s Strike 0207 482 2496   womenstrike8m@server101.com