Highway occupation could happen again, Tamils say
Frustration could boil over again, Samuel Lawrence of the Canadian Tamil Congress told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa.
"In a desperate situation, what would you do?"
He was referring to a protest by thousands of members of Toronto's Tamil community, including women and children, who blocked and shut down the Gardiner Expressway in the downtown core for more than five hours on Sunday, demanding the federal government impose sanctions on Sri Lanka until it signs a ceasefire with Tamil rebels.
"These kind of protests are coming through emotion and desperation from [the] younger generation of people. Most of these young people who are going there out in force to protest are refugees. [They] came as kids, young babies in 1983," said Lawrence.
"Once they learned this is happening to their parents and grandparents, they are emotionally charged. That's why they are doing [it]. We don't promote these kinds of things. But we have no control on it."
The congress is also calling on the government to order sanctions against Sri Lanka, boycott products from that country, stop sending aid money and recall the Canadian ambassador.
The group also condemned attacks in northern Sri Lanka on Sunday, in which 378 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in clashes between Tamil Tigers and the government, according to TamilNet and Tamil Vision International, which released footage.
The military denied launching the attack, saying it is using only small arms against Tamil Tiger rebels to remove them from their tiny holdout on the northeast coast. Two weeks ago, the government vowed to stop using heavy weapons, but reports from inside the battle zone said air and artillery strikes are continuing.
Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
Lawrence said the congress wants the UN to intervene in the battle much in the same way it did during the recent conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
"During the conflict in Israel and Palestine, within 22 days they were able to stop, bring a ceasefire. Only about a total of 1,300 people died in Palestine and few in Israel, but Tamils are treated like a low-level of humanitarian people," he said.
"We want them to do better, go and stop the fighting and killing our civilian people."
Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton has interceded on behalf of the congress with the Prime Minister's Office and may help to set up a meeting, he added.