Sri Lanka: Cameron Mobbed By Tamil Protesters

David Cameron has been mobbed by 250 Tamil protesters in north Sri Lanka, who claim their relatives have been murdered by the state.

In chaotic scenes, the Prime Minister's convoy was surrounded by demonstrators all trying to show him their family pictures and tell their stories of suffering in the country's 26-year civil war.

The protesters were the relatives of "the disappeared" - those who have just vanished without explanation but whom, it is alleged, have been either captured or killed by the state.

Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones, who is travelling with the Prime Minister, said: "He was in a vehicle, in his Jeep, but people spilled through the police line trying to get up towards the Prime Minister ...

"One or two young women really pressed up against the car as it was departing, trying to get photographs and testimony to what they fear may have happened to their loved ones to David Cameron."

The Prime Minister has travelled to the northern city of Jaffna, to meet Tamils scarred by years of ethnic fighting in the country, ahead of his meeting with the country's president in which he will raise the question of Sri Lanka's human rights record.

Protesters broke through the police lines

Mr Cameron, who is the first president or prime minister to travel to the region since Sri Lanka gained independent in 1948, said he had been confronted by "incredibly powerful" images during his visit to the north.

He said: "Going to the headquarters of a Tamil newspaper here in northern Sri Lanka and seeing pictures of journalists, shot and killed, on the walls and hearing stories of journalists who have disappeared long after the war has ended, that will stay with me.

"And also the image, in this camp, of talking to a young woman who came here when she was very young - a child in this camp - and wants nothing more than to go to her own home."

Mr Cameron added: "The fact is about this country that there is a chance of success because the war is over, the terrorism has finished, the fighting is done.

"Now what's needed is generosity and magnanimity from the Sri Lankan government to bring the country together."

The Prime Minister has pledged to use the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa over "chilling" claims of human rights abuses. 

Mr Cameron meets with Tamils in a local village

As many as 40,000 civilians are estimated to have died in the final months of the regime's fight with Tamil Tiger separatists, according to the United Nations.

There have been allegations of battlefield executions and rapes by regime forces and claims they indiscriminately shelled Tamils fleeing the fighting as the Tigers were defeated.

Mr Cameron will put pressure on Mr Rajapaksa to agree to an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes by state forces.

The UN says that abductions and torture continue in the country.

Mr Rajapaska used the international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be judgemental.

He told those present that it was thanks to him that the "menace of terrorism" was at an end.

Police officers intervene as protesters attempt to get to Mr Cameron

He claimed the war crimes alleged to have been carried out by the military in 2009 amounted to "exerting the greatest right, the right to life" for his country's people.

Paul Harrison, Sky's Royal Correspondent who is in Colombo at the meeting, said: "The image of Sri Lanka which Mr Rajapaksa would rather portray to the world is one of handshakes with foreign heads of Government, colourful cultural shows and visits by royalty, like Prince Charles.

"After months of criticism ahead of the biennial Chogm meeting, this time in the Sri Lankan capital, Mr Rajapaksa hijacked his own international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be 'judgemental'."

Labour leader Ed Miliband had called on Mr Cameron to boycott the Chogm event in protest at Sri Lanka's human rights record and said he should join other Commonwealth members to block Mr Rajapaska from taking up the two-year chairmanship of the 53-nation group.

But Mr Cameron insisted it was far better to go and raise concerns than stay away.

Earlier on Friday Prince Charles kicked off the Commonwealth summit at a colourful opening ceremony in the capital, Colombo, declaring his "admiration" for the way the country has rebuilt after a devastating tsunami in 2004.

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