TORONTO — In a dramatic demonstration that caught Toronto police by surprise, several thousand flag-waving Tamil protesters swarmed onto one of Canada's busiest highways on Sunday, shutting it down in both directions for several hours and stranding thousands of unsuspecting drivers.
After marching through several major downtown streets to protest reports that at least 378 civilians had been killed in Sri Lanka's war zone, an estimated 3,000 demonstrators, some chanting "no more genocide," surged onto the Gardiner Expressway at the Spadina on-ramp.
However, minutes after midnight, the crowd began to move off the roadway to continue their protest at Queen's Park. "We have already started moving and will be out in a half hour or so," said a leader of the group, Ruby Rasalingan.
"It's very important that if we want the continued support of the police and the city we have to move off the road," Ms. Rasalingan said over a megaphone as the entire crowd fell silent for the first time since the occupation began.
While not all of the protesters were pleased to leave the highway, all of them filed out quietly. "Our point was made," said Kumar Tham. "But if nothing happens tomorrow, we'll be back again, blocking here or somewhere else."
These civilian casualty figures are claimed by LTTE terrorists. In Sri Lanka around 150,000 Tamil civilians were kept under LTTE gunpoint not allowing them to come to government controlled area. However Sri Lankan soldiers have liberated more than 120,000 civilians up to now. This is a great achievement by a security force since it is the largest hostage rescue in world history. Most of these protests are organised by LTTE terrorist supporters in western countries and they even use the LTTE terrorist flags in these protests. US, Canada and Europe will have a great threat in future by allowing a deadly terrorists who are the inventors of suicide west, experts of train / bus bombs to organisation to allow settling down.
This is not a criticism of your photograph. But by including misleading information about Sri Lankan war zone I cannot keep quiet as a Sri Lankan.
Jude Perera wrote:
This is not a criticism of your photograph. But by including misleading information about Sri Lankan war zone I cannot keep quiet as a Sri Lankan.
Jude
May things turn out well for your country, my friend.
It is good to hear about this issue from someone with a better perspective on the topic, thank you for providing your input Jude.
Please know that I didn't post that blurb with the intention of misleading anyone, I simply wanted to provide some information so that people can put my picture into context. I figured that the best way to do this was to quote a news brief from a reputable source ie. 'The National Post'.
I will say that I disagree with one statement that you made:
"US, Canada and Europe will have a great threat in future by allowing a deadly terrorists who are the inventors of suicide west, experts of train / bus bombs to organisation"
In Canada, we allow ANYONE the right to peaceful organization in public and I am very proud of this. We also have government law-enforcement agencies to investigate terrorist behaviour.
Personally, I will worry about dying from heart disease or cancer long before I worry about being killed by a terrorist. It is tragic that countries like Sri Lanka are plagued with violence. I offer much sympathy to you and your country and I hope that peace will prevail for you in the future.
