Scuffles as British police end all-night Tamil demo

British police moved in moments ago to end an overnight protest by Tamils over alleged rights abuses in Sri Lanka, triggering brief scuffles, an AFP reporter said.
Objects including cans and a stick were thrown as a few hundred protestors were rounded up on Parliament Square, after being cleared away from Westminster Bridge where the rally had disrupted traffic.

Protestors chanted "Shame on British police" and "We want ceasefire," while some lay down on the ground, after brief scuffles between demonstrators and officers calmed down.

At least two people were taken away on stretchers, although there were no apparent injuries. A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman did not immediately have information about them.

The protest started Monday, and at one stage overnight had expanded to about 3,000 men, women and children. But by Tuesday morning it appeared to number 200-300.

Before they were moved on one demonstrator, who declined to be named, vowed: "We will stay until we have an answer from Gordon Brown ... Our relatives are dying out there and so we will stay here."

AFP