Error while reading svg file in MATLAB using xmlread

I am trying to read a svg file whose initial couple of lines are as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://ift.tt/IHuy5b">
<svg viewBox="0 0 800 800" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet" xmlns="http://ift.tt/nvqhV5" version="1.1">
<g fill="none" stroke="black" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="1.8481">
....
</svg>

When I try to run this in MATLAB (R2014a), I get the following error:

>> xInfo = xmlread('1.svg');
Error using xmlread (line 97)
Java exception occurred:
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
....

Since it looked like a connection issue, I changed the web settings of MATLAB and Java(via Java Control Panel) so that it would use the proxy of my workplace. But the error persists.

Any idea how to solve this ?