Tamil Tigers Tieup Transitway

[Asher]

I'm so ****ing sick of these Tamil Tiger sympathizer protesters. They constantly keep blocking major roadways, sometimes for days at a time, protesting in CANADA for Sri Lankan government actions against the Tamil Tigers, WHICH HAVE MACHINE GUNS IN THEIR LOGO.

FORGIVE ME FOR NOT SYMPATHIZING WITH THIS GROUP. all over town there's tons of cars with the Tamil Tiger flags out the window, too:


I don't know about the details AND I DON'T CARE. I DO NOT LIVE IN SRI LANKA.

Now **** off already. These protesters have long worn out their welcome.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/05/10/canada.tamilprotest/index.html

Tamil protesters close Toronto highway

Tamil demonstrators protesting the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka flooded onto a major highway in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday and remained there for several hours, closing the roadway and prompting police to send reinforcements while trying to negotiate an end to the incident.

"Quite frankly, to this point we are not getting a lot of cooperation," Police Chief William Blair told reporters late Sunday. "It is clearly a dangerous situation that they have created. We are amassing sufficient personnel. We are bringing additional people in -- we also know that this could go for some time."

It was not clear what the protesters intended by blocking the Gardiner Expressway, but Blair estimated that thousands of demonstrators from Toronto's Tamil community were taking part in what started as a peaceful demonstration in a nearby park.

"They gave us no indication they were going to do what they have done," Blair said.

Many of the protesters were on an overpass, and he said many children were in the crowd.

"It's an unsafe situation both for the protesters and the police," Blair said.

With Monday morning and the beginning of the business week only a few hours away, motorized traffic on what Blair described as "a very significant arterial road for the city of Toronto" appeared to be completely blocked by the demonstrators.

Police were working to persuade demonstration leaders to end the protest and clear the roadway, Blair said.

"Our response has to be proportionate to the activities of the crowd," he said. "You can't just wade into a crowd like that. They are still citizens of this city and there are children in that crowd, and I'm not going to do anything to worsen the situation."

In Sri Lanka, the government military has been on an offensive to try to finish off the ethnic Tamil insurgency that has been fighting for an independent state in the northeast of the country since 1983.

As many as 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war began, and the Tamil Tigers rebel group has been declared a terrorist organization by the European Union and more than 30 countries, including the United States.
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On Sunday, a humanitarian worker in Sri Lanka told CNN that nearly 400 people were killed overnight Saturday by government shelling in what is supposed to be a "no-fire" zone. Most of the roughly 378 dead are civilians, and an additional 1,200 were wounded, the aid worker said.

The government denies the claim, saying it is the Tamil Tiger rebels who have been killing civilians.

The police in this city are pansies. They need to just start arresting these people EN MASSE. They are all breaking the law and this is NOT THE FIRST TIME.

Bring out the bulldozers and force 'em to run.

[Asher]

What also annoys me is how much these ****ers lie. 376 die, no one really knows who did what, and suddenly they start crying how 4,000 civilians were slaughtered by the government? And then all these people come crawling out of the woodwork in Toronto and suddenly multiple people had grandmothers who were killed in these RUTHLESS ATTACKS against the UNARMED CIVILIANS who were no doubt also waving these machine-gun toting tiger flags.

[loinburger]

Tiger guy looks like he's got a brain tumor or something. Maybe that explains things.

[DanS]

Don't worry, the Tamil Tigers are just about done.

As for the protesters, that happens in DC from time-to-time. A couple hundred anarchists go marching down 14th Street without a permit, creating gridlock in the entire downtown. Nothing you can do about it, really.

[Asher]

This isn't time to time. This is constantly.

Now they're blocking ANOTHER main downtown street, which they've done several times already (last time for about 5 days!):

Tamils block University again

Dozens of Tamil protesters calling for intervention in the Sri Lanka civil war moved onto University Ave. this morning and are now blocking the southbound lanes between Dundas St. W. and Queen St. W.

Thousands of protesters shut down the Gardiner Expressway for more than six hours yesterday, and 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.

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.

The decision by the leaders of more than 5,000 demonstrators to leave the Gardiner came as a relief to Toronto police – backed up by hundreds of OPP and RCMP officers – who had, until then, been stymied in their efforts to clear the vital roadway by the hundreds of women and children who helped form the front lines of the protest.

At midnight people began heading down the Spadina ramp and returning to the south lawn of Queen's Park, where the rally began earlier Sunday.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said the protesters decided to leave the expressway following input from leaders of the protest and assurances political leaders would deal with their concerns.

"We received some help from some community members and some of our political leaders to bring an end to this," Blair said outside 52 Division early this morning.

"The protests are going to continue and we're anticipating having to deal with this in the days and weeks to come," Blair said.

He described the protest on the expressway as being in a "very dangerous location," which made it "difficult to manage a crowd."

"It was the first we ever had a protest go in that direction (onto the Gardiner Expressway)," Blair said. "I was very concerned if we started to move that crowd down the ramp and if there was any kind of a stampede and people began to fall we could have had a tragedy there and even loss of life."

Blair said "it was a big mistake (for the demonstrators) to go up there," adding he was "pleased they heard our message."

The Gardiner Expressway has reopened in both directions.

[MikeH]

Don't worry, the Tamil Tigers are just about done.

As for the protesters, that happens in DC from time-to-time. A couple hundred anarchists go marching down 14th Street without a permit, creating gridlock in the entire downtown. Nothing you can do about it, really.

Makes more sense in DC though, some people in DC have influence on things that happen the rest of the world.

[Solomwi]

The thread title promised tits, dammit.

[Asher]

I couldn't think of another T-word.

[Solomwi]

I forgive you.

[Asher]

I wanted to use "*****", but I'm pretty sure it's censored.

[rah]

Why do they think a stealth country like Canada will get involved with this?

[Asher]

They're clearly just stupid.

Moving a bunch of protesters, including children, up on an elevated, contained, high-speed, high-traffic transitway was a recipe for disaster. In addition to gridlocking the city (I was 20km away and drove over the 404/DVP, another main highway, and it was gridlocked due to this protest), it's proven to be the last straw in a city that's been trying to put up with these protests for weeks.

[DanS]

Canada should invade Sri Lanka.

[Wiglaf]

In America we have a thing called tear gas and batons

[Lefty Scaevola]

Damnit, the title made me expect a horde to topless south Asian protester chicks.