In Sydney, Barathan Vidhyapathy said more than 100,000 Tamils were killed and that those in charge of that massacre are now in government and have put the north-east of the country “under military occupation”. “This is why we protest today, mourning the dead and fighting like hell for the living.”
Kathirini, a Tamil refugee and survivor spoke about the day. “I was a child, and two relatives were sitting in my front garden. A shell blasted our yard and we lost a family member instantly, the other went straight to hospital. People were blown up in front of our eyes.”
Bruce Haigh, a former diplomat, said the Australian government “didn’t want to report on the war against the Tamil people” and nor was it “interested in helping Tamil refugees, or any other refugees”, referring to Priya and Nades and their two daughters who are still locked up on Christmas Island.