COLOMBO (AFP) - Canada on Friday accused Sri Lankan police of failing to guard its embassy in Colombo when it was targeted by stone-throwing protestors, and demanded a full inquiry.

"Canada has expressed concern about the inadequate response by the Sri Lankan police to protect the Canadian High Commission and its staff in accordance with Sri Lanka's international obligations," the embassy said in a statement.

Dozens of protestors shouting anti-Canadian slogans pelted the mission building with stones on Wednesday and spray-painted the entrance to the diplomatic compound.

The protestors had accused Canada of being overly sympathetic to the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were wiped out by government troops in a final battle earlier this month.

Canada gave asylum to more than 300,000 Tamils who left Sri Lanka in the 1980s, and tens of thousands of Tamils had demonstrated in Ottawa in recent months to demand a ceasefire in the island's ethnic conflict.

The statement from the Canadian mission described Wednesday's protest as "reprehensible" and urged the Sri Lankan government "to fully investigate the incident."

Nationalist protestors had staged a similar demonstration outside the nearby British High Commission last week.