Tamil expatriates stage protests against England team’s future tour to Sri Lanka – Cricket News Update
As Sri Lanka and England are engaged in a bilateral cricket series on English soil, the expatriate members of the Tamil Tigers community are staging protests to press the England and Wales Cricket Board to cut off all type of cricketing ties with Sri Lanka.
The protest campaign is titled as “Boycott Sri Lankan Cricket”.
Tamil Tigers, based in the northern part of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, have been at war with the southern part of the country since the 1970s. This civil war is a result of ethnic and linguistic differences between Tamil and Sinhala clans; while the former demand a separate
homeland.
The Tigers have a separatist movement, called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting against the Sri Lankan military.
The current protests in England are to condemn the ‘war crimes’ perpetrated by the Lankan military. The protesters, predominantly youths, are employing different platforms, like social media, sloganeering and play cards, to voice their issues.
The spokesman of the Tigers, Mario Arulthas, said, “Despite the evidence of war crimes and the intentional shelling of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan government detailed in [the TV documentary] the Sri Lankan state continues to categorically deny that
any civilians died and has refused to allow an independent international investigation.”
He further told, “With Sri Lanka's tour of England drawing to a http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 cricket team to boycott their planned tour of Sri Lanka.”
During the ongoing series, the two teams have played 3 Tests, a one-off T20 and 2 ODIs so far. The 3rd ODI is scheduled to be held today, July 3, at Lord’s.
England has won the Test series 1-0 and the 1st ODI as well.
As per the Future Tours Programme (FTP), the English are set to tour Sri Lanka to play a series later this summer. The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Main-c73911 focus of the protesters is to sabotage this tour; however, the England cricket authorities are not likely to let the sport be derailed
by politics.
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