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More blockades threatened
Mayor, premier say Gardiner Expressway occupation 'not acceptable'
Kenyon Wallace, John Spears, Les Whittington
Staff REPORTERS
Despite warnings from the premier and mayor, organizers of last night's massive protest on the Gardiner Expressway say they are not ruling out the possibility of another drastic traffic-stopping demonstration in the coming days.
"I can't predict what is going to happen but from what I can see, the community has been reasonable," said Senthan Nada, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the War in Sri Lanka.
"No one wants to cause an inconvenience but ... members of the (Tamil) community have seen their blood relatives massacred and killed in the most inhumane ways. If this happens after four months of peaceful protests, what else is there to do? That's a question the protesters are asking."
Mayor David Miller said this morning that occupying major routes such as the Gardiner Expressway isn't acceptable. Premier Dalton McGuinty echoed the Mayor's sentiments, saying this morning that there is a "right way and a wrong way to protest."
More than 5,000 Tamil protesters calling for intervention in the Sri Lanka civil war gathered on the Gardiner Expressway for six hours last night, shutting the vital commuter corridor down. Organizers agreed to move from the freeway around midnight only after a representative in Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office promised to bring up the demonstrators' cause in Parliament.
Today, dozens of protestors remain at Queen's Park while another group has assembled outside the Sri Lankan consulate near Yonge St. and St. Clair Ave.
Gathered on a portion of sidewalk at 40 St. Clair Ave. W. � but not obstructing pedestrian or vehicle traffic � the group of about 200 protesters chanted, "Canada take immediate action," and, "Sri Lankan government, terrorist government."
Police set up a metal barricade to keep the protesters � who were chanting and banging drums � contained on the edge of the sidewalk and on a portion of one lane of St. Clair Ave.
The street remained open and the sidewalk was clear for pedestrians. A group of protesters, many with their faces painted red, sat down on a section of the road.
The protesters are demanding international sanctions against the Sri Lankan government until it enters into a ceasefire with Tamil rebels in the country's north.
But Miller said it's hard to deal with the protests because the leadership is very de-centralized.
Asked whether he would try to speak to protest leaders to work out protocols that would balance the right to protest with public safety and order, Miller replied: "I'm certainly happy to speak to people. But the nature of these protests is, it's been very diffuse organizing � young people often. It makes it very difficult, and it's one of the challenges the police have had that there haven't been leaders per se."
Miller said he's trying to speak to the Tamil community through the media.
"Torontonians welcome Tamils as refugees because they're being persecuted in Sri Lanka, and we all support a call for peace and an end to the violence and hostilities. But occupying the Gardiner Expressway isn't acceptable � its unsafe. We need the protestors to recognize that," said Miller.
"The Tamil community needs to hear two things from us. First is, occupying roads like the Gardiner isn't acceptable, and the police will prevent you from doing it and will remove you when you do," he said.
"The second is that Torontonians understand that there needs to be an end to the hostilities in Sri Lanka and certainly understands the pain people feel."
Premier McGuinty also noted that the Tamils, or any other community, have the right to demonstrate on the front lawn of Queen's Park, but not the Gardiner.
"I recognize for the Sri Lankan community this is a matter about which many are passionate. This is not an abstract concern. They are talking about family and friends who are mired in a very difficult circumstance in Sri Lanka," McGuinty told reporters at a downtown press conference this morning.
McGuinty said his daughter worked in Sri Lanka for close to a year as an aid worker so he has "some understanding" of the nature of the challenges over there.
"I support the federal government," he said. "I would ask them to continue to look for opportunities to ensure journalists are permitted to be in Sri Lanka, in the north in particular where the conflict is. We'd ask to ensure the country opens itself up to international aid workers and oversight. Those are important things."
In a statement today, Ignatieff said Liberal officials stepped in last night to try to end the protest blocking the Gardiner Expressway in the interest of public safety.
"The protest had blocked the highway and put the safety of the protesters and innocent bystanders � including women and small children � at risk," the Liberal leader said.
In keeping with expectations of the demonstrators, Ignatieff said: "Our Party has raised, and will continue to raise, the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka in the House of Commons. We will continue to demand action by the Canadian government to address the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.
"But the Liberal Party of Canada stands firmly against terrorism, and I restate our unequivocal condemnation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," the statement continues.
"I urge Canadian Tamils to continue raising this issue publicly, and to give it the attention it deserves. But I implore them to do so legally and safely, by working with their elected representatives and through legal means of protest, and not through demonstrations that put public safety at risk," Ignatieff said.
The Liberals were expected to raise the issue of Sri Lanka in the daily question period in the Commons this afternoon.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair said this morning that it was inexcusable and dangerous for Tamil protestors to bring children up on the Gardiner Expressway last night.
"I think that's quite reprehensible, quite frankly," Blair said. "Having children and elderly people up front in a demonstration like that, I think it creates a very dangerous situation."
At one point last night, out of concern for the children's safety, officers threatened to remove the kids. When asked about the tactic, Blair said: "There was a lot of conversation going on with people in the crowd."
The problem, he continued, is the low railing along the highway and the narrow lanes.
Once the crowd veered onto the Spadina ramp, there was really no safe way to stop them, said Blair.
Sitting under a white tent on the lawn of Queen's Park this morning, Gunam Veerakathipillai says he has been on a hunger strike for eight days. The 52-year-old Pickering resident say he won't eat anything until he has a written promise from the federal government that it will intervene to end the carnage in his native Sri Lanka.
"I have lost 18 family members to the Sri Lankan armed forces so I can't live a normal life anymore. Nobody seems to care and that is why I'm taking this very hard decision," said Veerakathipillai, lying on a mattress, his voice cracking. "I'm suffering but my suffering is nothing. My people are suffering a hundred times more than this."
Abee Raveendran, one of several dozen protesters at Queen's Park this morning, drove to Toronto from London this morning at 2 after watching the shutdown of the Gardiner Expressway on the news. The fourth year health sciences student at the University of Western Ontario says she couldn't watch the news coming out of Sri Lanka and not do something.
"For three months we've been doing this and there's been nothing. Yesterday they really had no choice. When people take a stand like that, that's when people take notice."
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/632277
(there is a video on the TS site as well)
Ignatieff is such blatent a opportunist.
The guy comes back to Canada after 30 years to try and be PM and now he steps into this mess just to get votes. His book is about how great Canada is and the man hasn't even spent 5 years in this country (some greatness).
I don't like or trust the guy. FAKER!
I'm sure none of this would be happening and we would live happy lives if WEST had any interest in the territory... oh well.
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| Originally posted by miljan I'm sure none of this would be happening and we would live happy lives if WEST had any interest in the territory... oh well. |
Reverse Discrimination! These people have no fuckin jobs to go to during weeekdays when forming those human chains among toronto streets!? LOL And now this, on a sunday!!!?
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| Originally posted by Ziggy These people have no fuckin jobs to go to during weeekdays |
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| Originally posted by mute79 can't help but see the similarities between Tamil and Kosovo.. both were labelled as terrorists by the west, and both were seeking independance.. you can thank Steven Harper for illegally recognizing Kosovo's independance last year hate to say it, but its just gonna get worse with these protests.. the conservatives opened the pandora's box w/ Kosovo, and they're keeping their mouths shut w/ the Tamils.. every group around the globe that feels it should secede and be recognized as a country will take it to the streets *sigh* |
| quote: |
| I'm sure none of this would be happening and we would live happy lives if WEST had any interest in the territory... oh well. |
those bike cops must have been pretty scared... 7 vs 100 plus. "peaceful" or not, aggression can rise rapidly had the cops lashed back. i would have used my nighstick for some ass whooping rather than directing human traffic onto the gardiner.
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| Originally posted by Xavier Moriarty DINGDINGDING !!! lol, when i tried to explain what kind of havoc will recognizing kosovo start, everybody was looking at me like i was retarded. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Xavier Moriarty dingdingding. double standards are bitch !! like, saying "******, jigaboo, chink, ching chung, spic, wetback, paki, cracker" is racist and makes people cringe but saying "go back to wherever the fuck you came from" is acceptable and normal. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DigiNut Sorry, I must have missed it when the blacks, Chinese, Portugese, Mexicans, Pakistanis, and Americans blocked major traffic routes, assaulted police officers, and used their children as human shields in order to drum up support for interference in a remote civil war. Tell me again when that happened? And unrelated to this particular comment, honestly, I'm floored by the comments from self-hating liberal douchecanoes in here. You are the reason why terrorism works, the reason for its continued existence and escalation. You all should be ashamed, but I know you won't be, because the emotional lift you seem to get from pretending to be more sensitive and enlightened and cosmopolitan than everybody else is clearly more important to you than the safety, freedom, and personal well-being of your peers. This was not a peaceful protest, this is not a peaceful group, and they had no business protesting this particular issue here. Not that people can't "protest" whatever they want - but the fact that they were ILLEGALLY rallying for THIS particular issue just adds insult to injury. These people should have all been deported, but not before having the shit beaten out of them. "Oh no, people were stuck in traffic!" What if some of those people were on their way to the hospital? What if emergency vehicles had been blocked FROM the hospital? What if parents needed to get home to their kids? What if visitors missed important flights and have now had their entire weeks screwed up? This wasn't a 20-minute delay, this was over 5 hours. I'm pissed off for real this time. If any of you hypocritical nutsacks had actually been caught in the middle of this, you would have been flipping out and screaming your asses off. But as long as it's not happening to you you, you're a suave intellectual who's really interested in hearing both sides of the story before you judge - even though you don't actually know jack shit about who they are or what they're protesting and really just want to put other people down for being so hot-headed. Fuck you. |
agreed (except for the 'beating the shit out of them..." part 
they've been warned publicly in the press. if this illegal bullshit happens again, they can all protest from jail, AFAIK.
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| Originally posted by evil_cookie fucking idiots. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit .... and don't say apples and oranges! |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit woooooooooaaaaaaaaaaah hold on a second there buddy. Weren't you one of those union workers that was defending the york university staff striking because they weren't getting paid as much as the professors due to the fact that they weren't as qualified. Thus witholding students academic careers because you couldn't simply apply for another job if you werent satisfied with the pay in the one you had? I think you're being a bit hypocritical here. There are over 250,000 tamels in toronto and their families are acutally DYING in sri lanka. And your calling them fucking idiots for trying to save there lives. Why are you not a fucking idiot then for striking to receive the same benefits as a professor that has much higher tier education as you. I think you're being illogical. just like those GM workers who want 3 times as much money as the toyota workers. and don't say apples and oranges! |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DigiNut Sorry, I must have missed it when the blacks, Chinese, Portugese, Mexicans, Pakistanis, and Americans blocked major traffic routes, assaulted police officers, and used their children as human shields in order to drum up support for interference in a remote civil war. Tell me again when that happened? And unrelated to this particular comment, honestly, I'm floored by the comments from self-hating liberal douchecanoes in here. You are the reason why terrorism works, the reason for its continued existence and escalation. You all should be ashamed, but I know you won't be, because the emotional lift you seem to get from pretending to be more sensitive and enlightened and cosmopolitan than everybody else is clearly more important to you than the safety, freedom, and personal well-being of your peers. This was not a peaceful protest, this is not a peaceful group, and they had no business protesting this particular issue here. Not that people can't "protest" whatever they want - but the fact that they were ILLEGALLY rallying for THIS particular issue just adds insult to injury. These people should have all been deported, but not before having the shit beaten out of them. "Oh no, people were stuck in traffic!" What if some of those people were on their way to the hospital? What if emergency vehicles had been blocked FROM the hospital? What if parents needed to get home to their kids? What if visitors missed important flights and have now had their entire weeks screwed up? This wasn't a 20-minute delay, this was over 5 hours. I'm pissed off for real this time. If any of you hypocritical nutsacks had actually been caught in the middle of this, you would have been flipping out and screaming your asses off. But as long as it's not happening to you you, you're a suave intellectual who's really interested in hearing both sides of the story before you judge - even though you don't actually know jack shit about who they are or what they're protesting and really just want to put other people down for being so hot-headed. Fuck you. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by El K Dee its more like beef and tomatoes |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit woooooooooaaaaaaaaaaah and don't say apples and oranges! |
i Dont think anyone died.. and emergency services would have probably been able to pass. the right lane is open and they could surely navigate an ambulance through the protest with enough cops.
so no one died and dont say what if.. because no one did.
Personally, i am on the fence with this issue. i dont think that it should have taken an event like this to make their issue be heard. But since it worked it makes me wonder now the validity of it all.
I am mostly playing devils advocate here because most people are just insulting the tamils in this thread.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit Its funny when the jews who are only 200,000 can easily bring up issues in parliament and have actions taken to defend their rights appropriately. But for the tamels it takes a catastrophy like this just to be heard. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit i Dont think anyone died.. and emergency services would have probably been able to pass. the right lane is open and they could surely navigate an ambulance through the protest with enough cops. so no one died and dont say what if.. because no one did. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by The Ear but perhaps they should've come over with the rest of the families. But there's no reason to disrupt emergency services so MORE people can die. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DigiNut Oh no you didn't. Tell me again when the Jews blocked a major highway and assaulted police officers? And tell me again what "rights" the Tamil Tigers are defending? |
i love how the word 'genocide' is being thrown by the Tamils like it's a popcorn
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| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit i am not 100 % sure about the reasoning |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit they don't need to because they have people in parliament. The tamils are protesting the genocide or persecution of their people (i am not 100 % sure about the reasoning) but apparently their families are dying there. The fact that after this protest ignatieff is now wiling to talk about it in parliament shows that there is an issue at hand and it needs to be discussed. Its just saddening that it had to come down to this. |
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