Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Anyone else affected by the protest on the Gardiner at the moment? Tamil protesters have taken over the Gardiner Expressway and are refusing to move until a representative of the government turns up to tell them what Canada will do about the war in Sri Lanka.

As taken from my condo this evening. Still ongoing, looks like it may well still get nasty. Mind you, there are a load of children in the crowd.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Hmmm, first I heard of that! It's a shame they had to go and do that, up till now they have made their presence felt in a fairly peaceful manner. Inconvenient, but peaceful. What exactly do they expect Canada to do, I wonder?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I didn't see your thread when I posted a new thread...perhaps the Canada mods could merge them...please. :)

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=608366


We were just about to leave T.O. via the Gardiner when it broke out.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

protest yes, riot no. can we gets our facts right for a change?

i listened to a protester, not i emphasize a rioter, who simply asked for a meeting with Harper.

A simple reasonable request methinks.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Yeah if it wasn't for bringing many of the main routes around the city to a standstill.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I can well understand the outrage but on the other what is the big deal for a representative of Harper to meet with these people?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Quite frankly I don't care who gets to see Harper or who doesn't. This is not the way to do it IMO...and certainly not the way to gain local support. I wonder how much this is costing the taxpayers?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Perhaps if someone in Harper's entourage were to put in an appearance it might resolve the issue?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Maybe water hoses would too. :sneaky:

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Be serious, then it might turn into a riot.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

from CTV

They are demanding to speak to a representative of Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the civil war in Sri Lanka. Police have said that will not be possible.

Interesting that we are offered no explanation as to why it is not possible

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I am being serious. They should lock them all up.

Could it be because they are breaking the law?:blink:

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

This is speculation on your part.

When the native Indian tied up traffic by putting a bus on the rail line in Ontario it was resolved not by water hoses but by dialogue.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

What is speculation...that they are breaking the law?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Of course they are breaking the law.

My comment on your speculation was that I understood you to mean no one in the federal govt. would meet with them because they were breaking the law.

Meanwhile you would condone using water hoses on women and children? Thank GOD the local cops do not share your sentiments.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

The native Indian was protesting a Canadian issue in Canada. These idiots on the Gardiner Expressway are protesting an issue that has nothing to do with most Torontonians. If they want to protest to Harper, Parliament Hill is in Ottawa, not Toronto. Or they should protest outside the UN building in New York.

Would this protest be allowed to continue as long if it were Muslims in support of Al Quaeda? The Tamil Tigers are a terrorist organisation, and the Tamils only protest when the Tigers are losing.

I'd condone using water hoses on the protesters, after warning them that it's going to happen so that everyone has the opportunity to give themselves up. Those parents who have brought their children to the protest should be charged with child endangerment, as these protests are certainly no place for children.

Every one of those protesters should be arrested and charged. If these people are that supportive of the Tamil Tigers, instead of sending money to the LTTE, they should buy themselves a one-way ticket back to Sri Lanka.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

The problem with the federal government speaking to these people is that, they can't. The protest on the Gardiner, that looked to be turning into a riot at any point with the protesters throwing bikes at the officers, aren't protesting about them being civilians caught in the middle of a conflict. They are not flying Tamil people flags, but LTTE flags. They are aligning themselves with the actual tigers, a banned terrorist organisation.

Also this ended up as a peaceful protest, but since I saw it begin I can say for a fact that it was not a peaceful start. Cycle police where being hit, bikes ripped from under them and the protesters charging onto the highway and seemingly trying their best to get themselves run over. The initial police response was appropriate and it nearly became a full scale riot. It did calm down once they were firmly ensconced on the Gardiner, but before that it was anything but peaceful.

Asking for someone to step in and protect the civilians as they're caught up in something I can understand, but these people are actually backing the tigers. The tigers who have holed up in a small area now and are fiercely resisting the Sri Lankan military. They could lay down their arms and surrender to avoid further civilian deaths, but they won't. They're as responsible for the civilian deaths as the Sri Lankan military, and no amount of protest absolves that. They have the power to stop it, but choose not to.

I had a go at one of the protesters about a month ago in Toronto. They were in Dundas Square complaining that Canada isn't sending money and aid to Sri Lanka, but then using their iPhones and going into H&M to buy designer clothing. They are asking the general Canadian people to do what they themselves are not willing to do. They protest, but then expect someone else to solve their problems for them.

As for the situation on the Gardiner, I suspect the reason it didn't get out of hand was due to them using children as the front line. The number of baby strollers and carried toddlers I could see in that protest was unbelievable. Yet if something had happened, someone decided to continue scuffles with the police, and the police had reacted it wouldn't have been the Tamils that the populace would have blamed for injury to children.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I would be cautious about using the term "idiot" on this board.

I suggest that the Tamil Tigers are much more a matter of interest to Torontonians than native Indians. There are many Tamils in and around Toronto, "Tamil Tigers" is the name of one of the street gangs, there are also lots of Sri Lankans who do not support the Tigers so the conflict is a matter of direct interest. The subjugation of the native Indians, otoh, is just a footnote in the city's history.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

250,000 Tamils in Canada these days they say.....Seems Canada reaps what it sows.....hope every ethnic group decides not to hold a protest or two....traffic could become a mite congested.... :eek:

Just order more fire trucks.....:cool:

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Seems I was correct they did not blackmsil a member of the gov to go and speak to them last night.

Too riight I wouldfm. The same people who by walking onto the Gaerdner last night could have caused no end of traffic accidents and deaths.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Meanwhile while you condone letting these people have what they want...ie Harper going to the Gardner Sunday night to talk to them...won't this show everybody that breaking the law and blackmailing people is the way to go?

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

So you would support:

1) A return to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland?
2) Apartheid?
3) The continuation of the Raj in India?
4) The return of the Whole of the North American Continent to British Rule?

All of these situation were altered by a mixture of (illegal) non violent protest and the taking up of arms.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

As far as I can tell, the above protests were conducted directly in the countries affected. Toronto is not in Sri Lanka, and never will be.

Would the protest have been allowed if it were Muslims in support of Al Quaeda? I doubt it.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

When did the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland end? Nothing has ever ended.

Apartheid. Has been reimplemented in South Africa, if you're white you can't get a job, get hounded out of your home and officially discriminated against. The colour roles have just reversed.

I also never recall the whole of the North American continent belonging to the British.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

What does that have to do with Toronto? :confused:

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I think what has been most despicable is the deliberate encouragement of women and children onto the front line of the protest once it had occupied the Gardiner. The police spokesperson on the CBC radio news this morning stated categorically that the overwhelming reason the police did not use forceful means to clear the highway was the fear of injury to children and youths in the crowd if it broke into a stampede back down the Spadina ramp.

It seems Michael Ignatieff has agreed to raise the Sri Lankan situation in the Commons - news of this was what prompted the protestors to leave the highway last night. I hope that doesn't indicate his willingness to cave in to protesters using women and children as human shields to force an illegal occupation of the public highway.

I don't think the Tamil cause is helped by these kinds of protests, which will only alienate an already uninterested Canadian public. Nor is it helpful to throw words like "genocide" around in their protests. Although there's no denying that the largely Sinhalese government has a pretty poor record concerning the human rights of the Tamil minority, there is no question of a deliberate policy of extermination of Sri Lankan Tamils. Supporters of the Tigers, in particular, should look to that organisation's treatment of civilians under its protection and its willingness to put them in harm's way as an effective deterrent to government forces' artillery fire.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Al Quaeda supports the elimination of all Non Muslims (the situation in Sri Lanka is genocide better known as ethnic cleansing)

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Have you been to SA? Do you have South African Friends?

I admit I have not been to SA recently however I have SEVERAL SA friends (of all the major groups identified under apartheid) and those would NOT return IF they could actually afford to tend to be Black or Asian. My WHITE SA friends would return in a heartbeat.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

It has nothing to do with TO, and everything to do with you objecting to the basic human right to bring to the attention of others the gross injustice of your situation (or that of your countrymen).

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Oh please :rolleyes: so that makes what they did last night OK.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

There was I thinking this crap all started over 25 years ago, when the Tamil Tigers wanted an independant state seperate from Sri Lanka. If i recall correctly, the Tamil Tigers hid behind civilians when attacking legitimate Sri Lankan government forces, much like their supporters in Toronto last night hid behind women and children.

I don't see people from Darfur protesting their plight, which I feel is a much worthier cause than that of the Tamil Tigers.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

So the Tamils have less right to a seperate state than the Palestinians? Were Pakistan and India not established from Partion?

I'm sorry but the only people I have seen complaining about this situation are TO residents (white anglo saxon ones at that).

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Tamils already have a state in India, Tamil Nadu. Toronto residents are the ones complaining because we're the ones being affected by these protests. How would Calgary residents like it if protesters shut down Calgary's downtown core?

I accept people that people have the right to protest under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but I don't think the Charter intended the protests to cause massive disruption to the lives of law-abiding people.

I don't think violence is the way to achieve a seperate state. Both HAMAS and the LTTE would get more sympathy from me if they both laid down their weapons and surrendered.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Actually yes, I have several South African friends, all of whom say they would never go back there to live. I have some who left the country as they couldn't get a job, and where told it was because they were white. I have friends who had their house forcibly taken from them by the local government and handed over to a homeless black family. I have friends who are trying to get their mother to leave the country as soon as possible as she has been burgled 7 times in the last year and the police do nothing because she is white. I have friends who try and get documents but cannot because they are not allowed to issue them to them as they're white. And these aren't the same groups of friends, I've had several here in Canada and in the UK, and the stories are all the same, in the last ten years the country has switched to a black state where if you're not black you're not worth anything.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Fair dos then

You, like me, are speaking from acquired knowledge. I will not suggest your (nor my) friends are wrong, merely that they have different experiences.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Reverse apartheid, and it's tolerated by most of the world because to condemn it would be seen to be anti-black.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Rightly or wrongly perhaps. BUT most of the world sees SA as a black country (there is an argument that suggests that at the time the first Dutch Settlers landed in the south the only non white's living in what is now SA where the Bushmen).

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

Of course, it does seem throughout the world, and legislation, that only white people can be racist.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I'm sure the bushmen were there a long time before the first white people arrived, same as the Australian aborigines, the Canadian First Nations people and the US Native Indian tribes before white people arrived in their respective countries. Somewhere back in history, an indirect relative won the VC at Rourke's Drift, though he was wrongly portrayed in the movie as a malingerer.

Even if HAMAS and the LTTE were to get their own states, I think a fair number of their nationals would be as reluctant to move back as the South Africans are. I doubt many Afghan refugees will move back to Afghanistan even if the conditions which caused them to leave are ended.

Re: Tamil Protest / Riot in Toronto
 

I agree. Even ethnic cleansing is a form of racism.