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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)
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