The story said the Christian Congregation Australia church on Octavia Street, Toongabbie had invited Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe to attend their Independence Day celebrations.

This statement was incorrect.

The story has since been removed from this site.

Mr Samarasinghe has been accused of committing war crimes against Tamils during the Sri Lankan civil war.

An email asking for Tamils to join in the protest was sent out.

Mithran Chellappah, senior pastor at the Toongabbie church, which is part of the global C3 network, said he had not invited Mr Samarasinghe to visit his church and there were no Independence Day celebrations either planned or held there on Saturday.

Mr Chellappah said while he could not exclude anyone from visiting the church, however he had not invited the High Commissioner for any events.

The Independence Day celebrations were held at Roselea Community Centre in Carlingford on Saturday.

A community centre spokesman confirmed that the centre was booked for the day by a Sri Lankan group.

He said the booking had been made well in advance and the celebrations had been held at the centre for the past ten years.