President of Sri Lanka Called for a Mass Protest against the UN Report

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for a mass protest against the UN Report, which called for establishing an independent international probe into alleged war crimes committed during the war against the LTTE. President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an address to his Sri Lanka Freedom Party said that May Day rally in 2011 should be turned into a show of strength against international calls for war crimes investigations.

His remarks came after a leaked UN report called for an independent inquiry into credible allegations that Sri Lanka committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in its final 2009 offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels. Rajapaksa said allegations of war crimes, contained in a UN expert panel report, were not new but that there were increasing suggestions that those who led the military campaign should be taken before a war crimes tribunal.