About 70 protesters from political parties including MIC, PKR, DAP and PAS, as well as NGOs showed their displeasure today at the presence of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa at an international conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The two-hour protest ended with the crowd burning an effigy of Rajapaksa, after the conference's organiser told them the Sri Lankan ex-president had left the venue.

Among the protesters were MIC Youth chief C Sivarraajh, PKR's Kapar MP G Manivansan, DAP's Sungkai state assemblyperson A Sivanesan and PAS supporters' wing chief A Balasubramaniam.

Riot and uniformed police personnel were deployed to block the protesters from entering Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), the venue of the conference.

However, no scuffle broke out despite protesters attempting to break into the hall thrice during the demonstration.

The protesters wanted the Malaysian government to immediately deport Rajapaksa, claiming that he had killed thousands of ethnic Tamils during the Sri Lankan civil war which ended in 2009.

'Why let him set foot here?'

Holding up banners depicting Rajapaksa's face and the logo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the crowd chanted “get out, Rajapaksa” and “Rajapaksa is the killer”.

One of them slammed Putrajaya for allowing Rajapaksa to set foot in Malaysia.

“We don't allow Israel to enter here. How come a criminal can enter PWTC?” one protester asked.

They proceed to hit Rajapaksa's effigy before burning it.

One of the participants at the conference confirmed Rajapaksa's presence.

"Yes, he is (present). I saw many people taking photos with him," he told Malaysiakini when met at PWTC.

During his presidency, Rajapaksa defeated the armed insurgency Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, ending the 26 years of the Sri Lankan civil war.

However, critics accused Rajapaksa's administration of perpetuating war crimes, including raping and kidnapping ethnic Tamils in northern Sri Lanka.