London:
The Oxford Union cancelled a scheduled adress by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday after fears that pro-LTTE activists might disrupt the lecture.
Sri Lankan Tamils and pro-LTTE activists, residing in the UK, had planned to hold demonstration against the visiting President alleging that the Sri Lankan troops had indulged in human rights violations in the war against LTTE.
(Read and Watch: Channel 4 video of Sri Lanka execution causes shockwaves)Although Rajapaksa had received an invite from the prestigious varsity union to address an august gathering, the organisers reportedly backed off after being prevailed upon by members of Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
However, a statement released by the Presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga cited security as the reason for the change in the official itinerary.
"This is a decision that has been made unilaterally by the Oxford Union, reportedly as a result of pressure applied by pro-LTTE (Tamil rebel) activists," it said.
According to the Oxford Union, "due to the sheer scale of the expected protests, we do not feel that the talk can reasonably and safely go ahead as planned."
Rajapaksa embarked on the visit even as TV footage of the violent clashes between government troops and LTTE rebels showing grave human rights abuses was aired on
BBC's Channel 4.
Meanwhile, Britain's Defence Secretary Liam fox had an hour long private session with President Rajapaksa yesterday.
Rajapaksa is on a visit to UK to improve Sri Lanka's reputation after 30 years of war that ended with a bloody wipe out of rebels in the north.
Britain made clear its discontent over Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamil refugees by abstaining from a vote at the IMF to give 1.46 pounds billion to the country, the first abstention since 2004.