Five thousand people, predominately from the Sydney Tamil community, gathered in Martin Place on February 4 to draw attention to the genocide being waged against the Tamil people in northern Sri Lanka. The same day, 150 people from the Tamil community and supporters of Tamil rights marched in Brisbane.
In Brisbane, Tamil youth led chants of "killing children is a crime — free Tamils now!", "stop the genocide Sri Lanka!", and "Australia — help save the Tamils", while marchers distributed hundreds of leaflets about the humanitarian disaster, as a result of which over 250,000 Tamils are internally displaced. Churches, schools, hospitals and aid workers have been bombed by the Sri Lankan Army, with the number of deaths rapidly escalating in recent days.
Many people then made the trip to Canberra the following day to protest outside parliament. There, 2000 protesters called on the Australian government to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to end the conflict.
As a result of the growing pressure, foreign minister Stephen Smith read out a statement in parliament, outlining the ALP government's position.
Announcing that an additional $5 million in humanitarian assistance would be sent to the north of Sri Lanka, he stated that "Australia considers a political solution to be essential for long-term peace".
He added, however, that the military offensive and capture of Tamil territory by the Sri Lankan army, which has resulted in the massacre of hundreds of civilians, was "a significant development", and reiterated the government's position that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were to blame for civilian deaths, calling "on the LTTE to allow civilians caught in the conflict zone to leave" but ignoring the occupying military force.
Attempting to pressure the Tamil community in Australia, he called "on the Sri Lankan community in Australia to add its weight to this call to help ensure that civilian life is protected".
A public forum on the Tamil struggle against genocide, featuring well-known Tamil-rights campaigner Dr Brian Senewiratne, will be held in Brisbane on February 12 (see calendar for details).