Tamils protest Sri Lankan turmoil

WASHINGTON - Roughly 200 protesters from the ethnic Tamil minority held signs outside the Indian embassy and the US State Department yesterday to call attention to the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, where tens of thousands of children are in danger of being hurt or killed in fighting between the Sri Lankan military and Tamil rebels.


"The government is now comfortable that they can wipe out the Tamils," said Siva Sivalogan, an engineering consultant from Dedham, Mass., who traveled to Washington, D.C., yesterday with more than a dozen other Tamils from the Boston area. "Nobody from the outside is complaining much, so they feel they can do what they want. They don't give any room for even moderate dissent."

Tamil rebels have been battling for more than a quarter-century for a separate state for the Tamil minority.

A cease-fire brokered in 2002 ended last year, when the Sri Lankan government withdrew amid continued fighting. The Sri Lankan government says its attacks on rebel-held territory are meant to eradicate terrorism. But members of the Tamil minority say the government is using extreme measures to stamp out opposition.

FARAH STOCKMAN