Tamils protest against Salman

IANS/MumbaiSeveral people yesterday staged a protest outside Bollywood star Salman Khan’s house in Mumbai over his visit to Sri Lanka in support of President Mahinda Rajapakse.The demonstrators shouted slogans against the actor for going to Colombo with Kick co-star Jacqueline Fernandez, a former Sri Lankan beauty queen, to campaign for Rajapakse ahead of presidential elections.The protesters, most of whom were Tamils, flashed posters of late Tamil Tiger leader V Prabhakaran, who was killed by the Sri Lankan military in May 2009. They also carried flags of the still-outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).An officer from Bandra police station said that police were deployed at Khan’s residence during the demonstration. He said some of the protesters had been detained.Security has been increased outside the actor’s Galaxy Apartment.Khan and Fernandez went to Sri Lanka last month and met Rajapakse, who is facing a tough challenge from the opposition in the election set for January 8.The LTTE was banned in India in 1992, a year after it assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.