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The Tamil protest in Parliament Square is ending today after 73 days which saw thousands take to the streets, costing millions in policing.
It will end at 6pm when the last Tamils are due to leave the site.
It will bring to a close one of the longest large-scale protests in recent history.
The demonstration has caused massive disruption in Westminster with up to 20,000 people blockading the roads.
There have been violent scuffles and arrests as police tried to push back protesters and calls for changes in the law to force the Tamils to leave.
Several hundred protesters have been at the site every day with the numbers swelling to thousands every time there were fresh reports of civilian killings during the Sri Lankan government's offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
Police have had a 24-hour presence in Parliament Square since 6 April.
Met chief Sir Paul Stephenson revealed that after six weeks of round-the-clock policing the costs came to £7.94million - the G20 protests cost £7.2million - with £3.72million of overtime. This is the 11th week of the protest.
The organisers have now decided to end the permanent vigil outside the Houses of Parliament.
Raj Silva, of the British Tamil Students group, said it did not mean an "end to the struggle". There is a mass rally planned from Hyde Park to Embankment on Saturday.
Mr Silva said: "We will continue the struggle for freedom and human rights for the Tamil people. We're fighting to preserve our identity and culture."
Reader views (14)
the money that UK govt, made by selling bombs, heavy weapons to srinanka to kill tamils!!
that money was not made in a good way that's why they are spending those unncessarily,,, if they have taken some action against srilnka rather than demnding reason and excuses, they could have saved thousands of tamils in back hoem, and there won't be any need for these expenses!!!!
- Gowsi, uk, 21/06/2009 15:33
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Those who care about humanity; the death of more than 30,000 people and 20,000 disabled due to the Srilankan govt's attrocious bombing using banned weapons. pls show solidarity at the protest Tommorrow.
1 PM HYDE PARK CORNER TO TEMPLE EMBANKMENT-20-June-09.
- Nadesan, Vanni, 19/06/2009 13:48
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From anti-Apartheid protests outside South Africa House to, more recently, the Tibetan and Falun Gong vigils outside the Chinese embassy, to Georgians outside the Russian embassy last summer, London sometimes seems like demo-central. But that is something Britain should be proud of: providing a haven and a platform for those whose voices are silenced at home.
- Wood, Harrow, 18/06/2009 14:14
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These people have taken it too far. If they have a problem then they should be taking it up with the Sri Lankan government. I've completely lost sympathy for their cause. There are extremists on both sides but if they want peace and dialogue this is not the way to show it.
'Genocide' is a word too freely used. I'm sure if we looked at how many people died during the war the whole spectrum of Sri Lankan society has been affected. I am thoroughly fed up with these people. We have lax asylum policies in place, which allow terrorists to establish a base in our country and cause disruption to our lives.
- Chris Vos, Kingston, 18/06/2009 00:58
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And what did they achieve by protesting thousands of miles away in London, wait for it........NOTHING! If they were that concerned they should have protested in Sri Lanka.
- Brandon Thomas, SW7, London UK, 17/06/2009 17:35
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"Anyhow, UK is the one which merged two kingdoms thus causing the conflict so it has to take the moral responsiblity."
The usual pack of lies - the Tamil kingdom ended decades if not centuries (probably under the Portuguese) before Britain took over from the Dutch.
It's interesting to compare the views of the pro-Tamil Tiger / Tamil supremacists, who bypassed their ancestral homeland of Tamil Nadu to seek refuge in the West and that of another Sri Lankan immigrant - Deva Kumarasiri.
People may remember he was the subpostmaster who lost his job speaking out of adopting the British way of life (and later stood as a UKIP candidate - again, an interesting contrast with the Tamils' independent Jan Jananyagam campaigning for their own interests).
The pro-Tamil Tiger / Tamil supremacists should take a leaf out of Dave's book and support Britain - but then again, as Mr Kumarasiri's name and appearance suggests that he is Sinhalese, they're more likely to attack him than follow his example.
While I too am thoroughly fed up with selfish Tamils abusing our and other countries' hospitality, I know enough decent Tamils to realise they're not all of this revolting ilk.
- D Marks, London, UK, 17/06/2009 16:40
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About time, these people should never have been allowed to disrupt city traffic and life like they have done, absolute gridlock at times..they were an illegal demonstration supporting a designated terrorist organization...why didnt the police move them on the first day. I've lost any sympathy I may have had for their cause
- George, London, 17/06/2009 14:40
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Byeeee. Perhaps we can now clear the streets of London of this unsightly mess. London doesn't need this, especially now the tourists are flocking to London to spend there much needed euros, that this economy needs. The Tamil demonstration was pointless.
- Alan, London, 17/06/2009 14:02
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Srilanka has killed many innocent Tamils including babies, this the reason Slgovt bloked the war crimes investigation.
They also manged to demonise the LTTE who fights for the Tamils freedom, when non-Tamils hear about LTTE they say they are suicide bombers, this is because people don't know the otherside of the storey; that's Tamil women are raped and humiliated , TAMIL reas are full of mass murder graves, displacements and dissapearnces-this is because media doesn't have full access in Srilanka or media like BBC is anti-tamil-you can check by the events BBC has deliberately hiddenover the years and majority Sinhalease work there in many numbers-pls investigate.I.E Times reported salughter of more than 30k Tamils, BBC deliberately kept quiet.
This is why TAMILS are protesting on the streets.
Anyhow, UK is the one which merged two kingdoms thus causing the conflict so it has to take the moral responsiblity.
PLS see CH4 tonight @7PM-as to what sort of govt Srilanka is.
Lstly, govt may loose money by the protest but they are gaining by the train ticket paid by Tmils.
- Shankar, HARROW, 17/06/2009 13:53
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We have archieved a lot actually! We have brought the problem to the light, now people see who we Tamils are, whereas before they probably didn't. You guys are so ignorant, and if it weren't for the British, so many lives would have been saved. I'm not being racist or anything, but it's like why the hell did the British give power to the Sinhalese when they left??? We tamils, will get our homeland back, just wait and see. Tamils don't loose hope, they fight till the last second! We will continue our struggle, and we will archieve great things. You people are so selfish, you just care about your money! You taxes are being used to buy weapons, which are given away to Sri Lanka for free, and now you are blaming us? We are fighting to save the lives of our brothers and sisters, but you guys don't have that kind of love. Seriously, would you die for you wife/husband? You guys just care about the money and not about the innocent lives of others. Britian is partially to blame for this genocide! You taxes, my friends, are going to the government who buy weapons and give it to the racist Sri Lankan government which is wiping my community out. Shame on you! Shame on Britian! Shame on all foolish countries who are sitting there enjoying the blood of innocent people being shed!!!We haven't given up, we are changing tactics! Wr WILL get our homeland back!
- Kevin Puventhiranathan, London, UK, 17/06/2009 13:16
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The right to drive freely is more important than 'the lives of people in a faraway land of which we know little', to borrow Douglas Hurd's phrase. Surely the £7.94m policing bill is worth rather more than a right to protest that most of have no inclination to use?
- John, London, 17/06/2009 12:57
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Good riddance to bad rubbish as they used to say, maybe decent taxpaying workers can get to and from work now.
Deport any that don't have relevant visa's, they have cost London and the Met an absolute fortune.
- P Staker, London, 17/06/2009 11:47
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Why don't they all just go home to Sri Lanka. If they protested there they would have had a very bad time and would have all ended up in jail. Most of them are wanna be asylem seekers anyway and since now all is well is Sri Lanka, they see the probability of being sent back home and losing the benefits they are creaming off us in the United Kingdom. It makes me puke.
- Wq (Ex Pat), Frankfurt, Germany, 17/06/2009 11:02
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Good, finally. They have achieved NOTHING at all, except put their kids in harm's way, annoyed the sensible people in London, dimished any sort of sympathy they had by seeming to side with a terrorist organisation. Did they quit their jobs while they were there and claimed benefits? That they were allowe dto be there so long is baffling
- Mek, London, 17/06/2009 09:42
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