Tamils protest at diamond jubilee lunch over Sri Lanka president's presence
Mahinda Rajapaksa forced to abandon speech over allegations he has presided over torture and other human rights abuses
Tamil asylum seeker 'Hari' told the Guardian on Tuesday that he was tortured after being deported, including beatings on his back with electrical wire and being suspended upside down by his ankles. Photograph: Teri Pengilley for the Guardian
More than 1,000 Tamil protesters demonstrated outside a diamond jubilee lunch for the Queen in protest over the presence of the president of Sri Lanka as he was forced to abandon a keynote speech in the City of London on Wednesday.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, accused of presiding over human rights abuses after allegations of war crimes by Sri Lankan armed forces, was a guest, along with David Cameron, at the lunch in London hosted by the Commonwealth secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma.
Demonstrators descended on Marlborough House, Pall Mall, with some wielding hanged effigies of the president. Their chants echoed around the forecourt as guests arrived. Police estimated there were 1,200 protesters, though the Tamils said there were more.
The protests are over alleged war crimes and human rights abuses. One victim told the Guardian that he was left scarred and suicidal by torture, and accused the British government of forcibly deporting asylum seekers who are then tortured in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan said he was tortured over 17 days after being deported from the UK last year, and accused by his torturers of trying to ruin diplomatic relations with Britain by passing on allegations of other human rights abuses by state officials.
Rajapaksa was jeered as he swept through the main gates of Marlborough House in a Range Rover, which did not carry a flag because of security concerns.
