pass the roti on the left hand side

Protesting Sri Lankan Tamils are being blamed for beheading the statue of Jawaharlal Nehru outside India House in London. Indian diplomats were informed of the statue’s desecration when they arrived at the premises of the High Commission in Aldwych this morning. The remains of the statue have been bound in a white sheet and are visible for all to see. When contacted, India’s High Commissioner to UK Shiv Shankar Mukherjee said: “The statue has been damaged and the police are investigating.

Simon Hughes, a Liberal Democrat MP who has been involved in negotiations between the Tamils and police, said last night that one of the men had agreed to suspend his hunger strike in order to travel to the UN in New York with Labour MP Des Browne, the government's special envoy for Sri Lanka.

Passions were running high with many protestors saying they had family members who were killed or wounded in recent violence in Sri Lanka, although the demonstrators insisted their action would remain peaceful.

Five people were arrested today during clashes in London between police and more than 1,000 protesters demonstrating against the civil war in Sri Lanka.