Sri Lankans protest against LTTE terrorism

LOS ANGELES: On Friday, April, 24, a large crowd of concerned Sri Lankans including Buddhist clergy gathered in front of the Federal Building at Wilshire Building in Westwood, Los Angeles to protest against LTTE and its sympathizers’ false propaganda on humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

The protesters also denounced recent remarks by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the situation in Sri Lanka.  The peaceful demonstration was organized by the ‘Sri Lankan Patriots’ group in Los Angeles and it lasted for four hours.
 
The Sri Lankans paraded playing Sri Lankan drums called ‘Tham Maettama’ and carrying many placards along with Sri Lankan and US flags at the very busy intersection at Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles where it caught the attention of many commuters. Some of the slogans were: charge LTTE leaders & supporters for crimes against humanity, US  don’t prolong LTTE’s Pol-Pot regime etc.
 
The protesters chanted slogans in unison and ‘Sri Lankan Patriots’ committee members, Sudarshana Rohitha and Saman Boralage, led the chanting of slogans playing Sri Lankan drums, ‘Tham Maettama’.
 
Commenting on the stance the US has taken on Sri Lanka’s military campaign against the LTTE, Ven. Aparekke Punyasiri, chief incumbent of the Maithri Vihara Buddhist temple, said:  “The US understand the “War on terror” more than any other nation on earth. We are puzzled at the apparent reluctance by the US authorities to stand firmly with the government of Sri Lanka at measures adopted to eradicate the scourge.”
 
SLP co-secretary Gamini Edirisinghe said the rally was a means of informing the American public about the situation in Sri Lanka.  “The western world at large seems to be lost at what is really taking place in Sri Lanka, amidst a powerful and well funded media disinformation campaign carried out by the LTTE expatriate Tamil sympathizers. The millions of dollars collected from the Tamil Diaspora are now diverted from arms procurement to media work and, of course, towards political lobbying,” he said.