In the words of Mr. Punch..
..”That’s the way to do it”.
Having extensively covered the G20 protests last week, I can honestly say it was a real pleasure to photograph the Tamil demonstration in Westminster. By arranging the “flash-mob“-style protest through text messages and avoiding social websites that can be monitored, the group managed to appear from nowhere and catch the police totally off-guard as they set up camp in the middle of a very busy arterial road next to the Houses of Parliament in central London.
Since anti-terrorism laws came into force a few years ago, not only do demos have to be pre-approved but they are also forbidden from stopping within one kilometre of Parliament itself.
As I’ve previously stated, I couldn’t help but find the G20 protest weak due to the amount of people there who clearly did not fully understand the reason for the event. It may come across as very revolutionary and exciting to teenagers to write “Smash the State” onto the Bank of England in chalk but sitting for a few hours in the sun in central London before complaining that you can’t then leave to go home when you’re tired is a very different level of protest to what is happening in Westminster.
When a protest genuinely means something to the people in the street, you can feel it. There have been no threats of violence, no smashing of shops windows, no graffiti. On the first night, I was constantly approached by people in the crowd to thank me for taking time to cover their protest. I, as well as the police that were surrounding them, was offered a share of their food and drink. Young guys in hoodies would approach me, ask who I was representing and then begin an eloquent and heart-felt explanation of why they were there including details of political history and dates of events. According to reports, the controlling government in Sri Lanka is currently pushing to stamp out their Tamil Tiger enemies but many civilians are being caught in the crossfire. While both sides have been accused of war crimes over the years, it seems that this last push by the Government is proving particularly destructive.
The group is made up of a whole cross-section of the Tamil community with pensioners sitting alongside their grandchildren. Last night, the people spent their second night outdoors, chanting and drumming with unbelievable amounts of energy.
Having now been moved from the roads onto Parliament Square, it will be interesting to see how long they are prepared to stay there as there is also a march planned through central London on the 11th.
I’ve been to the Tamil demonstration on 31/01/09 and the amount of press was ridiculously small. Just like you say, the people were coming to thank me and they were letting me through to get to the front of the demonstration. Even when I told them that I wasn’t from the press, but trying to get some shots for a portfolio, they were still thankful for any publicity I’d give them. It’s a real shame that some events aren’t covered even if the idea behind them is “pure”.
Great shots by the way.
Thanks for the heads up on this, my liege. Saw some of the shots on the Getty site.
Whose flags are flying high in Westminster? Those of the Tamil Tigers – the TERRORIST separatist group who are using the Tamil people in the north of Sri Lanka as a barrier. Why are these people supporting this group? The Sri Lankan government have had to use hard military tactics to defeat this rebel group, since they have been merciless in the past. Who invented the concept of the suicide bomb in the first place – the Tamil Tigers. They have been using innocent civilians in their warfare since day one. So why do these people support them?
Another attempt by the British Tamil community to use lies and deceive the truth from the British people.
Tamils(the Tamil Tigers) which once claimed to be the sole representative of the Sri Lanka dravidians are using their right to kill their own people.
We must stand to stop this nonsense, if not, more innocent people will die in vain.
These pictures look amazing! Well done for doing a great job, am loving the effects! Captures everything well!
Hi, I just read and saw your photographs from the Tamil genocide awareness protest. Thank you so much for all you have done. Please could you e-mail me, as I am organising an event to further the awareness, and would be grateful for your help with photography! I couldn’t find your contact detail (email ad) so thought I’d post.
Thanks once again.
Tamil Eelam is a Must! We need our own Country, and people should learn some history before they say anything, WE [ Tamil People ] DID have OUR OWN Country! That is BEFORE the British people came in and took it away form US! so don’t act like we never had our own county! We [Tamil People ] are NOT TAMIL TIGERS, but TAMIL TIGERS are US!
-M.T.S.Kajen-
-04/09/2009-
Very nicely written blog with impressive photos.
I have been following this story on the news and it was clarified that the flags were not the terrorist ones but those that these people believe to be for their own land.
I am told that the terrorist flags have the terrorist letters on them, these red flags didn’t and were to do with the martial traditions of the Tamil people. I have to admit, they look similar, as I examined both. The police were informed and the home secratary had no issues with flags being waved as is usual with protests of any sort.
They are asking for a separate state as the British pushed them together to make administration easier during their rule. Also similar to what the Belgians did to Rwanda with ‘divide and conquer’ and the opposite of what the British did to India where they ‘divided and ruled’. Both Rwanda and Sri Lanka have since experienced mass awful genocide as a result.
This war they are fighting for is the longest running war in Asia, apparently. All they seem to want is peace and stoppage of their innocent civilians from being killed. Seems that there is more to it all than meets the eye – geo-politics, vested interests in the ports and other things including some horrors of chemical bombs and such atrocities. Genocide is always reminiscent of Hitler and the Jews, one observes.
Regardless, Tabascokid, you have done a stellar job on this, as with many of your other photos – you have a very distinct and brilliant eye for detail.
Thank you for taking your time out to come to our protest. As many Tamils at the protest may have said, we rarely get enough media coverage and any form of good publicity is much appreciated. You have done an amazing job, the photos truely capture the essence of our protest regardless of what others are preceivng it to be. Being there yourself, you can see what Tamils are about. We protested peacefully and we are determind to stay there until we are guarenteed that our brothers and sisters in the NE srilanka are safe from the clutches of the Sri Lankan Govt and peace talks commence.
The tamil tigers are freedom fighters! They came about to protect tamils in Sri Lanka being treated unfairly! People around the world have been given the wrong perception of the tamil tigers. The Sri Lankan army claim that the tamil tigers are using civilians as a “human shield” but when the army bomb a hospital, who do they expect will be there….the tigers?
The Sri lankan government have been torturing, raping and killing tamils for over 25 years and are getting away with it.I am not encouraging the war but all I am asking is to allow innocent civilians to leave the area unharmed. The army are now even bombing in the so called “safe zone!” The government deny any human rights breaches on tamil civilians but how can we trust them if they don’t allow any media coverage in the area? What don’t they want the rest of the world to see?
People please just open your eyes!We need all the support we can get. Anyone can see how much passion is in the eyes of the protesters!They are fighting for the rights of the tamil civilians in Sri Lanka!STOP THE GENOCIDE OF TAMILS!
ITS NOT A WAR AGAINST TERRORISM…ITS A RACIST WAR AGAINST TAMILS!
Thank you so much for helping us raise awareness of the situation in our homeland!!! Tamil civilans are dying evryday in their hundreds!!! The world is still ignorant of it!! There is still not enough media coverage!! I don’t understand why the war in Afghanistan was covered in so much detail for such a long time by every channel there is on tv but not the war in Sri Lanka!! Why? There are pictures of dead civilians on the tamil news showing a 2 yr old blow up into pieces and a pregnant mother whos been shot and the baby in her womb has been pulled out and cut into pieces!!!!! THESE ARE HUMAN LIVES!!!! This could have easily been my mother or my little brother/sister!!! any1 that has a heart will know that wat is going on in Sri Lanka is wrong and that the British government has the duty of stepping up and rectifying the mistake that they made back in the 1940′s when they handed the ruling of the government over to the majority sinhalese! That is when this war started!! One more thing tamil people ARE NOT tamil tigers!! That’s like calling all afghanistan people Al Quaeda, which is not the case!!! A small group of tamil men joined together to form the tamil tigers when sinhalese started the genocide of Tamils in Colombo back in the 1950′s!!! They were formed as a result of that, they did not exist before that, they were defending us and fightin for us because tamil people do not have an army of their own so they had to form one with the people that were willing to fight for our freedom!!! LOOK these issues put aside, what is needed right now is an immediate ceasefire to stop innocent civilians from getting killed and giving permission for the humanitarian aid to get through to affected areas because hospitals don’t even have the basic ammenities like bandages and syringes and they dont have blood for blood transfusions. In addition, these people are starving. A priest that went to visit the safe zone camp said that they are starving people they are not giving them the food that they should be getting. IT IS NOT A SAFE ZONE. Little girls as young as 5 are getting raped and so are the women, some even in front of their husbands!!!
wow i just realised ive written a huge comment! But please all im asking is that the british public is aware of what is going on and that they help us to STOP THE GENOCIDE OF TAMILS!!!Thank you again for your coverage and photos!!! It is much appreciated!!!
Everyone knows teh dire need for the end to this war, and the need for our own peaceful land..we NEED TAMIL EELAM so our Tamil people can live peacefully and proudly without worrying about when they will next be bombed or shot or raped!!! ANOTHER THING…While every ethnicity and race in this world has some sort of military back up and support for their people, why can’t the TAMILS of Eelam have the same? Every soldier that goes off to war to fight for their people and country are praised with bravery and courage, while our soldiers are being tainted with the name of Terrorists! They were the average farmer, or student that have been discriminated against and after 30 years of a UNARMED struggle, they had no other option!!! THEY ARE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!!! They will always have our support, and in our eyes they are OUR BRAVE AND COURAGOUS WARRIORS!!!
The SRILANKAN GOV. has constantly used our Tigers’ name to scapegoat their barbaric killings of our innocent TAMIL brothers and sisters!!! Please help us like this kind writer and photgrapher has done, all your efforts are so much appreciated…
AngrylLondon our govt is responsible for selling weapons and providing millions of £s in aid to the Sri Lankan govt (which in turn is diverted to pay for this genocidal war).
Since Jan according to the UN over 3000 Tamil civilians have been slaughtered due to the Sri Lankan Army’s indiscriminate bombing and shelling:
http://tiny.cc/VxIvw
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called for foreign donor govts to curtail funding of aid to the SL govt for its atrocious human rights record. Yet the British govt persists. This is why Tamils are protesting against Britains govt’s role.
And not all the Tamil protestors there support the Tamil Tigers and their methods. I would say all are against the genocide of Tamils. Its sad that the meaning of the protest has been hijacked by misrepresentation. Yesterday we were joined by a few Socialist Party members (non-Tamils) who voiced their opposition to the slaughter of Tamils and chanted slogans.
Thanks for all your comments both criticising and supporting the protest. It’s always a pleasure to see debate taking place, whatever the subject.
I’ve been continuing to cover the protest over the last few days, including the two young men on hunger strike and I’m still impressed by how well this demonstration is running.
Following on from my comments about the difference between the G20 and the Tamil protestors, I found a good blog that sums it all up far better than I can..
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/brendanoneill/2009/04/08/a-tale-of-two-protests/
Politics aside I had the same kind of experience here in Toronto. There’s a huge Tamil community in the city and for the past month or so they have staged several large and well-organised protests involving tens of thousands of people.
The last protest involved lining miles of downtown streets with demonstrators several thick. It was highly visible but peaceful and non-obstructive.
The protests were extremely effective, with a consistent and apparent message. The normal mixed-message, multi-group melee that normally attends, for example, anti-war protests don’t compare in terms of effectiveness. I’m all for different groups coming together to make a point but what generally happens is message chaos.
There’s a lesson to be learned from the Tamil protests for any activism group.
You’re totally right, Miles. Their technique should certainly be held as a good reference point for others. While covering the protest, I’ve seen a number of moments where a demonstrator begins to get a bit heated and, rather than it being encouraged, those around him will pull him aside and calm him down. On the third day, a guy came over and started to have a subtly aggressive conversation with me about why the media wasn’t doing more. As I began to explain that I couldn’t account for others, a young man came rushing over and took him a few metres away to talk to him. I can only imagine that he was telling him that making the media feel uncomfortable wouldn’t make more come.
Hi all,
I came across this article and i thought that the following links to a documentary filmed by Australia’s SBS Television Network will give more information to those who want to find out whats happening in Sri Lanka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ToOB8PjY_I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKT6p0EPntk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hP3DDfvOaE&feature=related