LTTE Event at Excel, London - 27 November 2008

Front organizations of the LTTE in the UK organized a public event at ExCeL London, 1, Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1XL, on 27th November 2008 to celebrate the birthday of LTTE leader Prabhakaran and to commemorate and glorify the deaths of suicide bombers. It was organized while the LTTE being a proscribed terrorist organization under the UK Terrorism Act.

Well before the 27th November 2008, the Sri Lanka High Commission in London informed the relevant British political and security authorities concerning the holding of this event. The High Commission drew attention to the fact that this event is being used by the LTTE front organizations to propagate LTTE terrorist ideology among the Diaspora Tamils and to raise funds for terrorist activities. They have, in the past displayed and sold LTTE paraphernalia and photographs of their leader and telecast the so called ‘heroes day speech’ of Velupillai Prabhakaran to the gathering. As a consequence of the proceedings, it was quite clear that the so called ‘Heroes Day’ (Maveerar Naal) was a callous disregard to the British law and an event to propagate and support terrorism on the soil of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka.

Despite the protests and warnings made by the High Commission, the organizers were allowed to proceed with the event on 27 November 2008. As the High Commission predicted and cautioned, the event has yielded the same results as previous years. The LTTE front organizations have used the event to raise funds by various means and broadcast the speech of the LTTE leader to the gathering. The High Commission is already in the process of contacting the relevant British authorities to pursue further in this regard.

High Commission of Sri Lanka,
30 November, 2008

Photographic Exhibition organised by APPG-T.

An official of this High Commission attended the photographic exhibition organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T), to gather first hand information, reported that it was a total failure.  The exhibition took place in one of the smallest rooms in the Parliament building, the space being approximately 8x6 feet.  The official saw no representatives from the Tamil community except the organisers who were moving around in a state of desperation.  It started behind schedule for want of participation and the High Commission official had to wait.  

The exhibits comprised approximately 25 photographs with captions.  Some photographs depicted killings by the LTTE of Tamils suspected of being Government informants.  These photographs had been prominently displayed with manufactured facts to mislead.   The High Commission official in fact confronted the organisers about the inaccuracies. 

This High Commission has sensitised the British Foreign Office and other relevant authorities on this exhibition, expressing our concern that the mother of Parliaments was being used to promote terrorism and mislead Parliamentarians.  Steps are being taken by the High Commission to hold an exhibition to project the correct ground situation in Sri Lanka.     

High Commission of Sri Lanka

25/07/2008