Thousands of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka are taking part in four-day peaceful protest march to coincide with Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.
The March started from Pottuvil from the south of the Tamil Eelam and will end in Polikandi in the north of Tamil Eelam.
Politicians, civil and religious leaders on foot and in vehicles joined the march, protesting plans by the Sri Lankan government to change the demography of the traditional Tamil homeland, the North and the East of the island, by settling majority Sinhalese there and taking over private lands. Meanwhile, relatives of the disappeared have begun a fast to mark the day Sri Lanka gained its independence from Britain.
Tamils are demanding justice for civilians killed and forcibly disappeared during the Tamil Genocide. They are demanding that Sri Lanka be investigated for the charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated on the Tamil people.
They have further called for the end to ongoing structural genocide policies undertaken by the Sri Lankan state. They want the immediate end to militarisation and occupation of Tamil Eelam.
