* Oxford Union cancelled speech because of protests
* Sri Lanka says move is a blow to British democracy
By Adrian Croft
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's foreign minister said on Thursday a prestigious British debating society had bowed to intimidation by cancelling a speech by the Sri Lankan president, preventing him from expressing his point of view.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to Britain at the invitation of the prestigious Oxford Union and his speech in the university city on Thursday evening was to have been the centrepiece of his week-long trip.
But the Union said on Wednesday it did not feel the talk could safely go ahead because of the "sheer scale" of expected protests planned in Oxford by the large British Tamil community and other critics of the Sri Lankan government.
"He has been prevented from expressing his point of view," Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris told a news conference.
"That is totally incompatible with the core values of the British political system and ... the hallowed traditions of the Oxford Union," he said, calling it "truly regrettable".
Peiris said the 187-year-old Oxford Union had been forced to cancel the event because of intimidation and "brute force".
"If it is possible to compel a very prestigious body ... such as the Oxford Union to cave in, to succumb to pressure of this kind ... that has very grave repercussions for the very substance, the very fabric of a democratic society," he said.
The demonstrators had planned to protest at alleged human rights abuses during Sri Lanka's three-decade war against Tamil separatist rebels, won by the army last year.
After the Oxford event was cancelled, protesters switched to London. Hundreds demonstrated in the snow on Thursday opposite the luxury Dorchester Hotel where Rajapaksa was thought to be staying. Dozens of yellow-jacketed police guarded the hotel.
Peiris said Rajapaksa had planned to convey a message of reconciliation. "We want to reach out to all Sri Lankans living in this country, irrespective of what language they speak (or) what religion they profess," he said.
Up to 300,000 people of Tamil descent live in Britain.
Rajapaksa has resisted external pressure for an international probe into allegations that both Tamil Tiger rebels and the military committed war crimes in the waning months of the conflict, during which thousands of people died. He has instead appointed his own panel.
"We have put in place what we consider to be the best and the most effective and the most pragmatic mechanism," Peiris said.
Rajapaksa met British Defence Secretary Liam Fox, three members of the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma during his visit to Britain, Peiris said. (Editing by Jon Hemming)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
