A demonstration to highlight the plight of Sri Lankan journalists will take place at Downing Street from 2pm to 5pm today.
The demonstration has been organised by Reporters Without Borders, Free Media Sri Lanka, the International Association of Tamil Journalists, and the Exiled Journalists’ Network.
According to Reporters Without Borders, 18 journalists have been killed, and many more abducted, in Sri Lanka in the past two years.
The most recent victim was Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, who was shot.
A statement from the demonstration organisers said: ‘The island may have an image in the west as a paradise for tourists but in reality it is at the centre of one of the world’s longest-running and most bloody civil wars in which 70,000 people have been killed.
‘As one of Sri Lanka’s main European allies, the people and press of Britain cannot let the Sri Lankan government continue to murder and maim its opponents with impunity. We must act to preserve the country’s beleaguered media freedoms before it’s too late.”
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