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Tamils in Netherlands demonstrate in
support of Struggle for Tamil Eelam, 29 May 2006
[see also Tamils demonstrate in
Australia,
Canada,
France,
Germany,
Switzerland,
Norway,
Sweden,
Finland,
Italy, South Africa]
 More
than 600 Tamils from across Netherlands gathered in front of
the Twedekamer, the Netherlands parliament, in the Hague,
the political capital of the Netherlands from 11:45 a.m.
till 2:00 p.m. Monday. The leader of the Tamil - Dutch
soiidarity group, Savarimuttu Mahendran, talking to media
said the Netherlands, once a colonial ruler of Tamil kingdom
in the island of Sri Lanka, having a historic knowledge of
Tamils sovereign rights, and ruled the Tamil kingdom
separately as a nation, should come forward to help the
Tamils re-establish their rights. Mr. Anne Verzigl,
representing the refugee organisation PRIME, addresses the
gathering. Krista van Velzen, Foreign Affairs Committee
member and Socialesteshe Partij (SP) parliamentarian,
receiving appeal from Sinnaiah Inthiran, President of the
Tamil centre for human rights in Netherlands. The
Netherlands is also aware of the current state of affairs
and has been providing asylumn to Tamils from Northeast Sri
Lanka for almost 22 years, Mr. Savarimuttu added.
"Tamils of Northeast, both through their active
participation, sacrifices and sustained support to the
cause, have entrusted the Liberation Tigers, and placed with
them the responsibility of restoring the Tamil sovereignty,"
Savarimuttu told the media.
The Tamil diaspora, has never accepted the Sri Lankan state
as representing their sovereign rights and the Government of
Sri Lanka should not be regarded as a state-actor in the
context of Tamil national problem, he further said.
The Tamil representatives, the Liberation Tigers and the
Government of Sri Lanka, should only negotiate as equal
partners to define a path towards a peaceful resolution of
the problem, he added.
The representatives of various Tamil organisations and Mr.
Savarimuttu, handed over an appeal to Foreign Affairs
Committee official and parliamentarian Ms. Krista van
Velden. About 75 Tamils live near Twedekamer, the
Netherlands parliament in the Hague.
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