Thousands in DC Rally Urge Obama to Stop Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka
Last updated: March 06, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. :Tamils Against Genocide held a massive rally in front of the White House on Friday February 20 to protest the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lanka government, and to draw the attention of President Obama and his administration. Nearly 10,000 Tamil Americans and Tamil Canadians saturated the Ellipse Circle, rallying, chanting and holding placards, banners and pictures, highlighting the scope of the ongoing genocide and demanding US action. A banner read, “We too hope for change: Change – US policy on Sri Lanka; Hope – end to genocide.” The mega rally was held between 11 am and 5pm, with a parallel rally in front of the State Department held from 11 am to 1 pm.

Diane Kelley, the Deputy Director for South Asia, met the rally representatives and accepted the petition addressed to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Since January 2009, the monoethnic Sri Lanka Government forces killed over 2000 Tamil civilians by shelling and aerial bombing of hospitals and safezones in NorthEast Sri Lanka.

The casualty figure was confirmed by a report issued by Human Rights Watch this week. The Sri Lanka government is responsible for deaths and disappearances of further 8000 ethnic Tamils in the past 3 years. Over 415,000 Tamils are trapped by government forces in 85 sq miles, and are denied adequate food and medical aid. The government expelled UN agencies and the International Red Cross, barred journalists, and conducts genocide on Tamil civilians without witnesses.

The silence of the international community including the US, India and the UN galvanized the Tamil diaspora across the world to organize protests. In petitions submitted to President Obama and Secretary Clinton with thousands of signatures, the rally participants appealed to the US government to publicly condemn the atrocities perpetrated by the Sri Lanka government on Tamil civilians, and asked to bring sanctions and economic pressure to effect an immediate cease-fire.

They also demanded to allow unfettered access for international humanitarian aid agencies and journalists into the conflict zone. Once a ceasefire is in place, the memo reasoned, the US and the international community should help to find a political solution where the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka and exiled in other countries democratically determine the terms of coexistence with the Sinhalese state based on the universally accepted principle of self-determination.

The rally ended with a public meeting. Dr. Ellyn Shander, a humanitarian worker, made a passionate plea to the Obama government to act to halt Tamil genocide. Bruce Fein, former deputy attorney general under President Reagan and counsel for Tamils Against Genocide, spoke on the efforts to indict key Sri Lankan defense officials on charges of genocide.

For information on TAG please check www.TamilsAgainstGenocide. org