More than 120,000 people marched in London on January 31 against the genocidal war being carried out by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) that has conquered Tamil-controlled areas in Sri Lanka's north and east at massive cost to the civilian population, according to Tamilforum.com.
The marchers were predominantly Tamils exiled due to the oppression and war carried out by the Sri Lankan state. The Tamils have been struggling for self-determination against a racist state based on the domination of the Sinhalese ethnic majority.
The SLA is seeking to completely destroy the armed resistance of the Tamil people carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as well as the structures of Tamil self-government created in LTTE-liberated territories.
Tamilnet.com reported on February 5 that the SLA had shelled that day a "safety zone in torrents not allowing people to come out of bunkers throughout the day in Chuthanthirapuram and Iruddumadu civilian refuges".
The article reported that the previous day, more than 50 civilians were killed due to shelling within the safety zone in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), forcing staff from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to flee.
According to Tamilnet.com: "Most of the patients at PTK hospital were moved away [February 4] as the hospital had come under artillery barrage, also deploying artillery-fired cluster shells on the hospital and its vicinity. A UN official in Colombo also told reporters that cluster bombs were used in the attack on [the] hospital."
On February 3, the report stated, "more than 100 civilians were feared killed in artillery barrage".
Tamilforum.com noted on the Londond march: "It was remarkable to note the high proportion of British born Tamils participating. The protest, which was arranged in less than a week by Action Committee Against Genocide of Tamils, an umbrella body made up of several Tamil organisations."
The report noted: "With the monsoon rains in full force, the civilians' torment is further magnified by the lack of food, shelter and medical assistance.
"The wounded are being left without medical treatment."
The protest called for the international community to pressure Sri Lanka for an immediate permanent ceasefire and negotiations to resolve the decades-long conflict.
The marchers also called for desperately needed emergency aid to be sent to areas targeted by the SLA.
"The peace campaigners also called on the international media to expose the truth about this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe by getting around the cynical methods the Sri Lankan government has employed hitherto to suppress the truth", Tamilnet.com reported.
"After banishing the international media, the NGOs and the UN agencies from the conflict zone and silencing the local media by assassinating leading journalists, the current hard-line Sri Lankan regime has succeeded in suppressing the truth emerging about what is widely accepted as a genocidal war against the centuries old Tamil civilisation in Sri Lanka."
The report claimed that by spending "millions of dollars on public relations, the Sri Lankan regime has attempted to, and in many instances succeeded in hoodwinking the international media".
According to Tamilgenocide.org, 50,000 predominantly Tamils marched in Toronto to protest the "genocide of innocents in Sri Lanka's conflict zone" on February 6.
A protest against Sri Lanka's war also occurred on February 4 in Durban, South Africa, and included representatives of the governing African National Congress and the South African Communist Party.