On Thursday 27th November, 'A National Awakening Day' will be held at the ExCel centre in which over 25,000 people from the capital's Tamil community will gather to commemorate those who have lost their lives in Sri Lanka's ongoing conflict.
Critics of the event, including Sri Lanka's ambassador to Britain, say it commemorates suicide bombers, is in clear violation of British anti-terror legislation and is run by groups which raise funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) aka the Tamil Tigers.
They also say the annual event acts as a 'springboard' for indoctrinating young British Tamils against the Sri Lanka's ruling Sinhalese and this helps drives funding to the LTTE.
The fact that last year's event featured a video speech from the Tamil Tiger's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in which he praised the group's suicide bombers, does little to detract from the view.
But Tamil groups argue that it is their right to mourn the thousands of Tamils killed in Sri Lanka and many regard Prabhakaran as a 'hero'. A classic example of one man's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter.
Nevertheless he is on Interpol's most wanted list.
The Metropolitan Police have given the event the green light, but will have officers at ExCel observing (with Tamil interpreters) to make sure no laws are broken.
This week I spoke to a friend who has worked in community cohesion for several years and closely with London's sizeable Tamil community and he said to me; "the Tamil people have faced severe oppression over the past 60 years and they should be able to mourn their loved ones."
" I see nothing wrong with this event," he insisted - and this view is obviously shared by the management of the ExCel, the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office.
There is no question that a gathering openly supporting al-Qaeda and featuring a speech from Osama Bin Laden would not be permitted in London and the Tamil Tigers are a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.
Can there be one rule for them and another for the rest?
This is a great line - "There is no question that a gathering openly supporting al-Qaeda and featuring a speech from Osama Bin Laden would not be permitted in London and the Tamil Tigers are a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. Can there be one rule for them and another for the rest?"
This double standard by the British government is really disturbing. These are the reasons why war on terror is taking so long to complete.
Posted by: Prasanna | 26/11/2008 at 10:50 PM
A number of UK parliamentarians and prospective candidates have spoken on this event. Is Amar trying to say our democratically elected MPs are terrorists? must be kidding himself.
This is the only opportunity in UK available for Tamils to remember their dead families and friends. Plus over 40,000 Tamils have participated in the event, we cannot simply say these 40,000 UK citizens are terrorists.
Posted by: Raul Joseph | 28/11/2008 at 03:34 PM
You are spot on. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter what their cause is. It seems the Met doesn't care what the terrorist supporters in London do, as long as they dont support Al-Qaida. How pathetic..
Posted by: James D | 28/11/2008 at 04:57 PM
Al qaeda and the LTTE have 2 entirely different causes,so there can be two different rules. The LTTE were a legal entity until relatively recently. There has never been an attack on britain or for that matter any western countries interest. they are not against the western way of life, cultures and traditions like al-qaeda. Also al-qaedadoes not have as much support amongst muslims as the LTTE has amongst Tamils. The turnout at this event has been estimated at 50,000. If that is not a mandate for the LTTE by the tamil people what is? Sri Lankas ambassador to britain obviously would put the LTTE in a bad light, but the atrocities are commited by the sri lankan armed forces and paramilitaries backed by them. there is plenty of evidence for this. your report just shows you are set in your way and you even seem to take the sri lankan ambassador, who is obviously biased, more seriously than your "friend", who said he doesn't see nothing wrong with holding this event. His views are representative of the tamil communities aspiration, not the ambassadors.
Posted by: Kumar Sami | 28/11/2008 at 07:09 PM