Rajapakse in London By Westminster Insider
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Rajapakse had to cloak his arrival in London by taking security measures unprecedented since the end of the civil war and retreat by cutting short his stay.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
At 18:00 BST (British Summer Time) on the 3rd of June, Scotland Yard informed activists that Rajapakse will not arrive on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL503 at terminal 4 of London’s Heathrow airport (LHR) but the next day instead. Organisers of the demonstration at LHR knew both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and BAA, the operator of LHR had granted Rajapakse VIP clearance, and, therefore, were unlikely to intercept him at the terminal. Nevertheless, they went ahead with it to send a message that countenancing Rajapakse on British soil was not acceptable. Over seven hundred activists converged on LHR and mounted one of the biggest demonstrations inside an airport terminal. To their surprise Scotland Yard firearms officers encouraged them saying they too would do the same if their families had suffered like Tamils.
At 06:30 hours on the 4th June Scotland Yard informed activists that Rajapakse had departed Colombo. However, they did not reveal his time of arrival. Later that morning they reported that he was residing at the Hilton in Park Lane. Activists had been granted permission by Scotland Yard to mount a protest outside the Dorchester Hotel between 13:00 and 19:00 hours on the 4th, but changed it to the Hilton. The stage was set for another confrontation.
