Thursday, February 21, 2013

British premier lays wreath at India massacre site

AAA??Feb. 20, 2013?9:35 AM ET
British premier lays wreath at India massacre site
AP

British Prime Minister David Cameron, center, visits the Golden Temple, Sikh?s holiest shrine, along with Chief Minister of Punjab state Parkash Singh Badal, second from left wearing glasses, in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron also laid a mourning wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre on unarmed Indians attending a rally, which galvanized the national independence movement. (AP Photo/Sanjeev Syal)

British Prime Minister David Cameron, center, visits the Golden Temple, Sikh?s holiest shrine, along with Chief Minister of Punjab state Parkash Singh Badal, second from left wearing glasses, in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron also laid a mourning wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre on unarmed Indians attending a rally, which galvanized the national independence movement. (AP Photo/Sanjeev Syal)

British Prime Minister David Cameron, center, walks barefoot during his visit to the Golden Temple, Sikh?s holiest shrine, in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron also laid a mourning wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre on unarmed Indians attending a rally, which galvanized the national independence movement. (AP Photo/Sanjeev Syal)

British Prime Minister David Cameron visits the Golden Temple, Sikh?s holiest shrine in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron also laid a mourning wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre on unarmed Indians attending a rally, which galvanized the national independence movement. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)

British Prime Minister David Cameron walks to lay a wreath at the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces, in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron's action Wednesday marked the first time a British premier made such a gesture of condolence at Jallianwala Bagh in the northwest city of Amritsar. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre on unarmed Indians attending a rally, which galvanized the national independence movement. (AP Photo)

British Prime Minister David Cameron lays a wreath at the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces, in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Cameron's action Wednesday marked the first time a British premier made such a gesture of condolence at Jallianwala Bagh in the northwest city of Amritsar, but he stopped short of issuing a formal apology for his country's actions 94 years earlier. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre, which galvanized the national independence movement and marked the beginning of the end of Britain's rule over the Indian subcontinent. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? Britain's prime minister laid a mourning wreath Wednesday at the site of a notorious 1919 massacre of hundreds of Indians by British colonial forces, calling the killings "a shameful event in British history."

David Cameron was the first British prime minister to make a gesture of condolence at Jallianwala Bagh in the northwest city of Amritsar, but stopped short of issuing a formal apology for his country's actions 94 years earlier.

"This is a deeply shameful event in British history ? one that Winston Churchill rightly described at the time as 'monstrous,'" Cameron wrote in the visitors' book at the site. "We must never forget what happened here. And in remembering we must realize that the United Kingdom stands for the right of peaceful protest around the world."

The park was the site of an attack by British colonial troops on unarmed Indians attending a rally calling for independence. More than 300 Indians were killed during the massacre, which galvanized the national independence movement and marked the beginning of the end of Britain's rule over the Indian subcontinent.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the same site in 1997 and laid a wreath there. She called the killings "distressing."

Cameron's visit to Amritsar came at the end of his trip to India. The trip was aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two countries in the areas of energy, infrastructure, insurance, banking and retail.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-20-AS-India-Britain/id-2ddcf56c1e8c426f85dc30a183b2ee82

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