Tamils for Labour has raised “serious concerns” over the arrest of Tamil activist Sockalingam Yogalingam during a peaceful protest against the visit of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister in Oxford yesterday.

“Mr Yogalingam was exercising his right to peaceful protest and he should be released from custody as soon as possible,” said Sen Kandiah, chair of Tamils for Labour, adding that “it was very concerning to learn that Sri Lankan officials allegedly requested that he be arrested”. 

He went on to state,

British MPs have written to the UK’s Home Secretary expressing “serious concerns” about the arrest of Tamil activist Sockalingam Yogalingam during a peaceful protest against the visit of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister in Oxford yesterday.

Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils urged the Home Secretary Sajid Javid to “investigate the circumstances” of the arrest, as it was reportedly “carried out at the behest of Sri Lankan government officials who were filming the protest”.

A British Tamil activist has been arrested and detained by UK police after protesting the visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister in Oxford on Monday night.

Mr Sockalingam Yogalingam also known as Yogi, a member of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) was arrested last night by Thames Valley police, along with at least three other protesters.

The activist’s home in London was searched today, while he was detained, by seven officers of the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (SECTU).

The search notice stated that Yogalingam had been arrested for "belonging to a proscribed organisation".

Coordinator of the May 17 Movement, Thirumurugan Gandhi, was released last week from the Central prison in Vellore after almost eight weeks of imprisonment.

Having originally been arrested at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport in early August on sedition charges, the activist was since booked for having protested against the establishment of the 227-kilometer Chennai-Salem highway project under the National Highways Authority of India, among other charges.

A machete-wielding gang reportedly attack three different shops in Jaffna last week, as crime in the peninsula continues.

Three places were reportedly targeted by a gang on the night of October 5. The gang comprised of 6 people, vandalised shops and a vehicle in Nachchimar Kovilady, Oddumadam, and Thami Lane, between 8.45 pm and 9.30 pm that evening.

The Sri Lankan police were informed, by the time they had arrived the suspects were had left the scene. No arrests have been made.

Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan warned British minister Mark Field that failure to include a “genuine power-sharing arrangement” in any new constitution for Sri Lanka “will lead this country once again towards violence,” in a meeting in Colombo last week.

Sampanthan told the minister that “we don’t want our young people to return to violence,” however pointed out that “the demands of the Tamil people for a genuine power-sharing arrangement must be addressed through a new Constitution”.

British Tamils staged a protest in Oxford yesterday evening, as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe addressed the Oxford Union.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister has spoken out against international involvement in investigations, during his talk at the Oxford Union today.

“At the moment we don’t feel there is a need for foreign input into these investigations,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, according to a tweet by the union.

The comments may refer to investigations into war-time atrocities, which Sri Lanka agreed to investigate with international involvement when co-sponsoring a UN Human Rights Council resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, in March 2015.

A protest was held outside the union during Wickremesinghe’s talk.

A senior US State Department official will urge Sri Lanka to make progress on transitional justice and accountability, as well as on human rights, reconciliation and constitutional reform.

Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, will travel to Sri Lanka and the Maldives this week.

“In Colombo, she will meet with Sri Lankan officials and will emphasize the importance of the U.S.-Sri Lanka relationship to shared Indo-Pacific goals, with the growing bilateral defense relationship as an area of particular promise,” a State Department media note said.

The Tamil Youth Organisation UK (TYO) has condemned the Oxford Union’s invitation to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is set to speak on the ‘geopolitics of the Indian Ocean region’ later today.