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When Marusalp Sandanayagg heard before Christmas that the house she left behind in Sri Lanka when she came to New Zealand had been bombed to the ground, she thought no news could be worse.
Until a phone call came last month telling her that her 12-year-old nephew, Francis Rohan, had been killed when his school bus was bombed and Muthsa, his 15-year-old sister, was so badly hurt both her legs had to be amputated.
"I was so shaken by the news I had to be taken to hospital," said Mrs Sandanayagg, 34, who is expecting her first child. "Today it's my family, I don't know whose family member will die tomorrow in Sri Lanka."
Yesterday marked 60 years of Sri Lankan independence from Britain, but violence continued to mar the troubled nation's celebrations.
The military was blamed for the bombing of the school bus carrying students from a Catholic school home from a sports meet, killing 18 people including 11 children.
Instead of celebrating Sri Lanka's national day, more than 50 members of Auckland's Tamil community gathered in Aotea Square to remember those who have died and to protest against their Government's lack of action against the violence.
"For us Tamils, it is 60 years of genocide, oppression and civil war," said Nirupa George, 20, one of the organisers of yesterday's protest.
On Sunday, a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowded railway station, killing at least 11 people and wounding 100 others. The bombing came hours after a crude bomb went off in a zoo, wounding four visitors, and a day after a bomb on a crowded bus killed 20 passengers and wounded 60 in Dambulla, 150km north of Colombo.
"Sri Lanka is just a killing field and everyone is blaming everyone else for the killings," Ms George said.
Last month, the Sri Lankan Government scrapped a six-year ceasefire agreement, which has resulted in an escalation of fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Auckland Tamils said this reflected the Government's lack of commitment to bringing an end to South Asia's longest-running conflict.
Ms George said the Aotea Square gathering was held to raise awareness of the harsh reality of life and injustice Tamils in Sri Lanka faced.
"As Sri Lankans who live overseas, we have to do everything we can to help our people back home," she said.
"It is our hope that New Zealand, a country which respects human rights, can help pressure Sri Lanka into doing the same."
