AN ESTIMATED CROWD of about 150-200 Tiger supporters in Oslo Tuesday (7) morning stormed Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s office and demanded Norway’s immediate intervention for a cease-fire in Sri Lanka. A similar simultaneous protest on the Thames Bridge in London has also been reported Tuesday (7) morning around the same time.
Those Oslo agitators, holding placards with Prabhakaran’s portrait condemned the Sri Lankan government and threatened the Police encircling them that they would not leave the premises until Norway gives an undertaking to them on their demands. Several Police dogs in the company of riot squads watched the developments which they described as ‘illegal’.
Tuesday (7) morning’s agitation came just a few hours after a similar street-parading protest that took place, the previous night (6), attended by a few more hundreds where Policemen clashed with protestors after they manhandled a few Oslo Policemen. The unruly behavior prompted them to use teargas against the mob. Two trouble-makers were afterwards taken into custody by the Oslo Police after the tussle that made the Police to summon reinforcements.
Police using megaphones requested those 300-500 demonstrators, on one of Oslo’s main roads to disperse without blocking traffic at night, but those LTTE supporters sat down forcibly on the tram-line blocking public transport both ways.
However, Police stood firm and called the protest ‘illegal’ and held the view that political questions should not be referred to the local Police who are responsible for maintenance of law and order.
Tamil spokesman Amurapaham Nagalingam was quoted saying that the day (Monday) was terrible for them since Sri Lankan forces have used ‘chemical weapons’ in the north.
‘Norway should take responsibility’, ‘Norway send food and medicine to Tamils’, ‘Stop genocide of Tamils’, ‘Listen to our voice’, ‘Prabhakaran is our hero’, etc were the slogans screamed out by those demonstrators.
“We are working very much, but it does not unfortunately help. We have direct contacts with both parties in the conflict. In addition, we are working all the time together with other nations closely to keep pressure on both Tamil Tigers and the government so that rights of the civil population would be respected. We know very well that Tamils in Norway are deeply concerned and they express those sentiments. For a long time, we have unfortunately seen that none of the parties in the conflict respect the right to self-defence of the civilians,” Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Trond Viken, has reportedly made this comment to the Norwegian News Agency (NTB).
Those Tamil agitators belonged to the newly-formed pro-LTTE Norwegian Tamil Forum (NTF) who earlier wanted Oslo government to condemn the Sri Lankan government for its ‘inhuman treatment of Tamil civilians.’ One Balasingham Yogaraja who conducted a hunger strike earlier in Oslo was quoted saying.
Head for Operations in Oslo Police district, Tor Gulbrandsen meanwhile has gone on record saying that prior permission for this demonstration has not been sought by Tamils and that led to the arrests of those demonstrators.
This new twist of approach of the Norwegian Police late Monday (6) night in Oslo towards this pro-LTTE demonstration organized by Tamils to protest against the Sri Lankan government’s offensives has reportedly irked Tiger leadership in Oslo as no such commitment was forthcoming from Oslo as anticipated.
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(Photos Courtesy: NTB / VG)
