DURBAN--About 500 ethnic Tamil
South Africans gathered in front of the site
of the World Conference against Racism to protest
the violence in Sri Lanka.
July 24th was the 18th anniversary of the conflict
that has claimed an estimated 64,000 lives. The
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), known
commonly as the Tamil Tigers, are a group of militants
that are fighting for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka.
The protest
was peaceful and many of the South African
police indulged
in
the free food being
passed out by the protesters. The protestors
carried signs, some which read, "Viva Tamil
Tigers LTTE," "Proud of your heritage," and "No
medicine for Tamil victims in Sri Lanka!!
Stop killing Tamils!"
Durban has
the highest concentration of Tamils in
South African. There are roughly
1.1 million
people from the Indian subcontinent living
in South Africa, more then half of who are
Tamil. "There
are people who are getting killed in Sri Lanka," said
Prebashni Govender, 24, a costing coordinator
at a Durban company. "There is also
racism here. Any time people are judged by
their color
it's not good, but we protest for the Tamils
in Sri Lanka who are dying."
One of the
organizers of the protest, Kisten Chinappen,
an educator,
said
that they had not
met with the Sri Lankan delegation to the
WCAR. "But
they would say that there is no problem, all
the Singhalese would always deny everything,
no genocide-only terrorism," he said.
>From under a "Viva Tamil Tigers" banner,
Rajen Pillay, 37, an educator said, "I
support the Tamil Tigers, they are not a
terrorist group,
they are freedom fighters. The Tamils never
colonized Sri Lanka, they were born there.
The Singhalese
are oppressing the Tamils, they have no access
to education, job opportunities, it is basically
another form of apartheid."
Many groups
were represented at the protest. Sandy
Moodley, 25, was born
and bred in Durban.
She was there on Sunday to protest the fate
of Tamil women and children in Sri Lanka. "We're
fighting against the rape and abuse of women
and Tamil children in Sri Lanka," she said. "They
are being repressed and we in South Africa
want to show our support for them."
Many families
brought their children along to protest.
Ceri Madura, 12,
a student at Erica
Primary School in Durban was there to protest
as well saying, "It's genocide-ethnic
cleansing of the Tamil people. Tamils have
been there for
3,000 years, now they're telling them to
go away."
