News Service from House Harris

Fed: Hunger striker collapses outside DFAT

CANBERRA, April 17 AAP - A hunger striker has collapsed unconscious outside the foreign affairs headquarters in Canberra after leading a 3,000-strong protest against Sri Lanka's treatment of its Tamil ethnic minority.

Mathivanan Sinathurai was one of six wheelchair-bound hunger strikers who led the procession from the prime minister's Canberra residence to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) building four blocks away.

The 27-year-old university student from Sydney, who had been on hunger strike for six days, was taken by ambulance to a hospital soon after 3pm (AEST) on Friday.

A doctor at the scene, Raga Ragavan, said Mr Sinathurai had low blood pressure and very clammy hands.

Two days earlier, fellow hunger striker Sutha Thanabalasingam was taken to hospital after complaining of severe stomach pains but participated in Friday's protest.

The 27-year-old from Melbourne - wearing a blanket over a shirt saying: "We will starve until you act" - was later wheeled into the DFAT building, along with another two hunger strikers, to speak with departmental officials.

Families and young children held blood-patterned posters featuring images of butchered children and placards accusing the Sri Lankan government of "military atrocities" and "genocide".

Other placards called for sanctions.

The protesters want Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to apply diplomatic pressure on the Sri Lankan government to broker a ceasefire with Tamil separatists.

Two lanes of traffic were blocked off at Canberra's State Circle road around Parliament House for the protest.

Tamil supporters, including the hunger strikers, have been camping outside The Lodge since Wednesday. They earlier protested outside the prime minister's Sydney residence, Kirribilli House.

The Tamils say 3,500 civilians have been killed in the first three months of 2009 in the long-running civil war with the Sri Lankan government.

They are also running a global campaign to get the Sri Lankan government to allow food, medicine and aid into the conflict zone.

The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam launched a campaign in 1972 to create a separate Tamil homeland on the island.