[R-G] Tamil protesters leave Toronto highway

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090510/Tamil_protest_090510/20090511?hub=TopStories

Tamil protesters leave Toronto highway

Updated Mon. May. 11 2009 12:37 AM ET

ctvtoronto.ca

Thousands of Tamil protesters have left Toronto's Gardiner Expressway,  
after surging onto the highway to call attention to the escalating  
civilian death toll in Sri Lanka.

Around midnight, protesters began making their way down an on-ramp as  
police monitored the situation. Some told ctvtoronto.ca they planned  
to take their demonstration to Queen's Park.

Reporters and witnesses at the scene said the demonstration was  
largely peaceful. However, police arrested at least one person and  
video taken from a nearby highrise showed a bicycle being thrown at  
officers.

Activists demanded to speak to a representative of Prime Minister  
Stephen Harper about the civil war in Sri Lanka, but police said that  
would not be possible. Reports say the protesters agreed to leave the  
area because the Liberal party said it would address their concerns in  
Parliament.

Police Chief Bill Blair told reporters late Sunday it was an "unlawful  
and unsafe" protest, and the RCMP and the OPP were assisting. He said  
protesters gave no indication they were planning to take to the  
Gardiner.

Blair also said he was extremely concerned about the presence of  
children at the protest and said the elevated highway itself was very  
dangerous for people on foot.

"I'm very concerned about the safety of children, I think it's an  
extremely dangerous situation to put children on the front line of a  
protest in that way, I think it puts them at tremendous risk," he said.

Ghormy Theva, a protester on the Gardiner, told CTV Newsnet Sunday  
evening that demonstrations would continue until "definite" action was  
taken by the Canadian government.

At one point, more than 100 Toronto police were on the scene and had  
set up a perimeter on the highway. Vehicular traffic was severely  
backlogged on the Gardiner, a major thoroughfare in the city.

Officers on the scene were reportedly armed with tear gas, and police  
described the protesters as "uncooperative."

The national spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress. David  
Poopalapillai, told CTV Newsnet Sunday that "desperate times call for  
desperate action."

But he said he was taken "off-guard" by Sunday's protest and said  
recognized the inconvenience it caused to motorists.

A second protest shut down the University Ave. and College St.  
intersection.

The protesters rallied after international news agencies reported  
nearly 400 civilians were killed during an overnight artillery  
bombardment. The Sri Lankan military is denying launching the assault  
that killed 378 civilians and wounded about 1,100.

Thousands are fleeing Sri Lanka's war zone as tensions between the  
military and Tamil Tiger rebels escalate.

Reports are hard to confirm because of a ban on journalists and aid  
workers in the war zone. Late Sunday, protesters disputed the death  
toll from the artillery bombardment, saying it was in the thousands.

The demonstrators protested in Toronto yesterday afternoon as well,  
marching through the city and ending up on the lawns of Queen's Park.

On Sunday, about 2,000 Toronto Tamils crowded several streets, making  
their way in front of the U.S. Consulate on University Avenue.