A meeting in the City of London, due to have been addressed on Wednesday morning by the president of Sri Lanka, has been cancelled, owing to concerns over policing amid the threat of large demonstrations by Tamil rights groups.
But Mahinda Rajapakse – whose presidency has been tainted by persistent allegations of war crimes committed by Sri Lankan armed forces – will still attend a lunch for the Queen, hosted by the Commonwealth secretary general at Marlborough House on Pall Mall.
The president was first to have given the keynote speech at a special Diamond Jubilee meeting of the Commonwealth Economic Forum, at 10am. On its website, the event’s organisers, the Commonwealth Business Council, simply states that “After careful consideration, the morning sessions of the Forum… will not take place.” It had pre-sold tickets to the event at £795 +VAT each.
