A Croydon GP treated two students on hunger strike over the alleged genocide taking place in Sri Lanka.

Dr Velauthapillai Arudkumar was at the protests in Westminster, monitoring the health of the two hunger strikers from Mitcham.

Dr Arudkumar performed blood tests on the two men and monitored them every couple of hours to make sure they were stable.

Siviatharsun Sivakumarave, 21, and Subramaniyam Paramestvaran, 28, have been fasting outside the Houses of Parliament since Tuesday as part of a larger demonstration aimed at forcing the British government to step up pressure on Sri Lanka.

Mr Sivakumarave has now suspended his strike in order to join a delegation of Tamils heading to the United nations in New York.

Mr Paramestvaran started drinking water on Saturday but continues to refuse food.

The protestors accused the Sri Lankan army of killing civilians in its ongoing war with the rebel Tamil Tigers, a claim the army denies.

The two men signed documents promising “hunger strike until we breathe our last breath”, and told the authorities they did not want to receive medical treatment if they lost consciousness.

A spokesman for the pair said they were too weak to talk, but their friend Sivendran Nadarajah, also a student, said one of the men’s fathers was sitting alongside his son as he fasted.

Since beginning their strike the pair has been surrounded by a crowd of protestors chanting, singing and waving banners.

Mr Nadarajah said: “There are lots of us Tamils down in Mitcham and I would say 99 per cent of them have been here over the last few days.”

He claimed this week’s action had been vital to draw attention to the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka.

He said: “The British press didn’t know anything about the situation until we turned up.”

The protests have been entirely peaceful, with one policeman monitoring the event describing the hundreds of demonstrators as “good as gold”.

Earlier this week Mayuran Gunaretnam, also a student from Mitcham, threw himself into the Thames during the protest.

• Do you agree with the hunger strikers? Let us know in the comments section below.