Protesters said 'Sri Lanka Killing Fields' was biased but admitted it is for the government to investigate allegations of abuse

Chandila Fernando, spokesperson for protesters told BBC Sandeshaya that they were protesting against Channel4's failure to air the view of the Sri Lanka government while airing "Sri Lanka Killing Fields".

"We expect a major British channel such as Channel4 to be impartial but the documentary on Sri Lanka was one sided in our opinion," he said.

Mr Fernando however admitted that many including civilians might have been killed in the war as Sri Lanka troops moved into crush Tamil Tigers.

"Those who live here in UK cannot say exactly what happened in the battlefield," he told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

Call for investigation

"If there were crimes committed during the war, it is the government's responsibility to investigate them," he added.

If there were crimes committed during the war, it is the government's responsibility to investigate them

Speaking earlier with BBC Sandeshaya, presidential advisor Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, MP, admitted that at least 5000 civilians might have died in the conflict.

The government earlier maintained that no civilians were killed in the last phase of the conflict by the soldiers. Those civilians died, it said, was as a result of rebel fire.

The office of the Sri Lanka president said over 3000 people took part in the protest held in front of the Channel4 office in London on Sunday.

One of the major concerns of the protesters that British people are of the opinion that "our government is committing a genocide" after the footage was aired, said Chandila Fernando.

The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly argued that it has been unfairly criticised for ending a conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives amid regular suicide bombings of government targets.

UN special investigator into extrajudicial killings Christof Heyns, said that video footage showing soldiers apparently executing civilians in the Channel 4 documentary is evidence of serious rights abuses.

Presenting the footage to the UN Human Rights Council, he said that, after careful analysis, he had concluded that it was authentic.