Medics and protestors increasingly fear for the health of a Sri Lankan hunger striker in London starting his 11th day without food on Friday in a protest over the plight of Tamils in his homeland.

Paramesweran Subramaniyam (28) is surviving on sips of water and could soon slip into a critical condition, according to supporters. He told AFP that he would starve himself "until I die or when I get my demands".

He is demonstrating as part of a group — whose numbers have fluctuated between a handful and hundreds — defying the law to hold a rolling, peaceful protest outside London's Houses of Parliament since 6 April.

They want Britain, the former colonial power in Sri Lanka, to intervene to help bring a ceasefire to the troubled country.

The Sri Lankan government says it is finally close to defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for 37 years.

Government forces are advancing into a narrow strip of the north-eastern coast where the rebels are holed up along with up to 100 000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Britain and France said Wednesday that the Tamil Tigers were using civilians as human shields and urged the Sri Lankan government to declare a new ceasefire to allow aid in and civilians out.

Subramaniyam, who lies in a makeshift bed in a tent pitched opposite parliament in front of a banner reading "On Hunger Strike Til Our Last Breath", could only speak to AFP for a few minutes because he was so weak.

He said he came to Britain from Sri Lanka a few weeks ago after his mother and four other close relatives were killed in a poisoned gas attack. He said his father was killed by Sri Lanka's military when he was seven.

"I don't have tears for crying and I won't cry," he said. "I am here because my family have died. I am here, fighting."

He said the possibility he could die did not concern him.

A concern for the Tamil people

"Even if I am doing bad, I feel I am good because I know what will happen to me," he said in broken English. "More than me, my country, my people are suffering from the war so for me it's nothing (dying)."

As he lay huddling into a duvet, hundreds of people kept up the protest around him, chanting and holding up banners with slogans like "Tamils Want Freedom, Tamils Want Justice" and "Ceasefire! Ceasefire! Now".

Demonstrator Raji Nesa (20) urged the British government to listen to their message and step in to help.

She said of the hunger striker: "There are signs that he's going to slip into a coma soon because he's not drinking the recommended amount of water and he's not eating."

Volunteer Tamil doctors are monitoring Subramaniyam around the clock. One, who did not want to give his name because his father is still in Sri Lanka, described the protestor's condition as "not very good".

"His fluid intake is very low, his fluid output is proportionate. He's not drinking enough water and that we have to keep nagging him (to do). His vital signs are stable," he told AFP.

"He can go on another couple of days and then we're slipping into a critical situation."

There has been a wave of major protests by Tamils in Britain in recent weeks, including a march by about 100 000 people through central London on Saturday to demand a truce in Sri Lanka.

The United Nations says both sides in the long-running ethnic war may be guilty of war crimes, with the government accused of shelling civilian areas and the Tamil Tigers of hostage-taking.

AFP

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