British Sri Lankan Forum holds demo against Channel - 4

Janaka ALAHAPPERUMA in London

A demonstration against the Channel-4 Television Corporation organised by the British Sri Lankan Forum (BSLF) was held on September 5 from 11 am to 2 pm in London.

The BSLF also has launched an online petition campaign which is circulating around the world collecting signatures.

Channel-4 News in the UK broadcast an unauthenticated video clip, accusing the Sri Lanka Army and the government of war crimes. This particular video clip, shown on Channel-4 news on August 25, 2009 at 7 pm, created a controversy throughout the world.

It was later shown on BBC, CNN and many other news channels as well as web sites and led to the damage of the reputation of Sri Lanka and Security Forces. It is also detrimental to the reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction process in Sri Lanka.

Healing programs carried out among divided Sri Lankan communities by organizations in the UK are also affected by this false allegation. The BSLF decided to protest against Channel-4 News and complained to the Office of Communication, the British Regulatory office (which monitors electronic media) to investigate this incident. Ofcom has requested organisers to hand over a copy of the signed online petition, which they are planning to lodge against Channel-4 with the controversial video clip in DVD format. Log on to the following link to sign the online petition;

http://www.petitiononline.com/c4nosl09/petition.html

They are planning to hand over a petition to the British Prime Minister as well.