Several thounsand Tamils marched through Central London Saturday, 17 October to protest against the continued detention of civilians in Sri Lankan camps and calling to end 150 days arbitrary detention in camps and for an international independent probe into war crimes.

“Next time you want to buy underwear from Marks & Spencer, you want to buy a t-shirt from Next, you want to go on a holiday of a lifetime in a beautiful island off the coast of India - Do you really want to spend your money on a government that chooses to lock 300,000 people up behind barbed-wire. A country that is the most dangerous in the world to be a journalist! A country where we can see on Channel 4 News, young men, naked and bound shot at close range. Is that what we want for our money, for our democracy?” - Siobhain McDonagh MP , Mitcham and Morden, Labour Party Conference 2009.

On the eve of a European Union announcement (15th October) on the renewal of its Generalised System of Preferences to Sri Lanka (the additional preferences it receives is known as GSP+) the human rights group Act Now and Tamil activists have launched an anti-GSP+ and Boycott campaign.
 
The first action was a demonstration against the extension of GSP+ on Monday 5th October outside the British Retail Consortium (BRC) in Dartmouth Road, Westminster. The BRC had recently come out in support of extending GSP+ (which allows goods to enter the EU duty free) to Sri Lanka. Act Now wished to point out that the GSP is voluntary concession conditional upon 'good governance'. Under no stretch of the imagination is SL's denial of basic human rights to the Tamil community acceptable.

Further demonstrations under the banner of 'Blood Garments' will take place outside major stores (including M&S) over the coming weeks. They will be calling upon the British public to boycott Sri Lankan products, particularly garments, and for companies to cease trading in such goods (a list of the times and places is attached).
 
Act Now Director Graham Williamson said "Whilst 300,000 innocent civilians are held in miserable conditions in concentration camps against their free will Sri Lanka has forfeited any rights to be treated as a 'favoured' nation by Western countries. They should not receive any benefits (at the cost of our ordinary taxpayers) and frankly their goods should be shunned by our citizens".
 
The boycott campaign will continue indefinitely until all inmates are released from the camps and human rights abuses ended.

Outside British Retail Consortium, M&S and TESCO from 5th to 14th Oct, 2009 lead by ACT NOW
 

Outside British Retail consortium, 21 Dartmouth Street, London, SW1H 9BP, on
 
Monday       05/10/2009
Tuesday      06/10/2009
Monday       12/10/2009
 
Time: 1600-1800 (4 P.M – 6 P.M)

Outside Marks & Spencer, 458 Oxford Street, London, W1C 1AP, on
 
Wednesday  07/10/2009
Thursday      08/10/2009
Tuesday        13/10/2009
 
Time: 1600-2000 (4 P.M – 8 P.M)

Outside TESCO, NEW MALDEN EXTRA, 300 BEVERLEY WAY,  NEW MALDEN, GREATER LONDON, KT3 4PJ, on
 
Saturday       10/10/2009
Sunday         11/10/2009
Wednesday  14/10/2009
 
Time: SAT, SUN 1100- 1500  
WEDNESDAY- YET TO BE DECIDED