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Your comment is aptly named, Mat. Because it is disgusting your level of ignorance and racist hostility.

This has nothing to do with Canada, eh? I know many of those protestors and they are Canadian citizens, most through birth. They pay taxes too.

And how have they held you hostage? I am getting really irked at people throwing this term around like they know what it means. The protestors haven't prevented other Torontonians from leaving their homes, going to work, going shopping, getting coffee, etc. They just make you a little later, if your route happens to be where they are.

I would think that it is the protestors suffering more by having to stand outside in freezing rainy weather rather than the motorists in their comfy cars with coffees in hand. So stop complaining. Obviously the minor traffic inconvenience you are suffering pales in comparison to what they have to stand through. Common sense anyone?

You say that the protestors "should leave Canada and go do something it" And then you say you don't want to "lose our own citizens for some other country's political b/s". You are majorly contradicting yourself there because, and I will repeat myself, the protesters are Canadian citizens too! So I am touched that you don't want to lose any Canadian Tamils, knowing surely it would be the Tamil youth who would jump at a chance to enlist in the forces if we were to intervene in Sri Lanka.

Secondly, the Canadian forces exist in part to serve troubled nations through peacekeeping, which if they were to intervene, is exactly what they would attempt to do. They are not going to go in there guns blasting. Besides the protesters are not asking for Canada to invade the damn country, they are asking for Canada along with other nations to place economic and political sanctions on the government. And if that doesn't work then the peaceful intervention of the army.

As for those who are saying it was dumb of protesters to put children in harms way on the Gardiner, this is what happened: It was a Sunday afternoon, not much traffic, some adults at the head of the procession went onto the highway, police went in, protester grabbed a cop's bike and threw it down, cops started beating him, drew blood, while other cops blocked the highway from any incoming cars many many feet from the area, then rest of the protesters (with children) after seeing that oncoming traffic was impeded, surged onto the ramp. This all happened in a matter of minutes. Really people, those protesters are condemning the loss of human lives, why would they put their children's lives at risk? If you care about child safety, how about children in Sri Lanka being raped, butchered, and hanged? Also, was the bike that expensive that the cop had to draw blood? The poor guy's head was bleeding and his bloody glasses were on the ground. A cameraman waded into the crowd and started taking pictures of the blood and the shattered lens. I can only hope they pop up everywhere on the internet under the heading "Cop scared for bike's life, beats protestor until he draws blood".

You think that these protests are only a recent occurrence? These protests have been going on in Canada for at least 10 years, sporadically, in Ottawa. Nothing came out of it. When Singhalese terrorism intensified, the protests intensified. Orderly protests were tried with minimal traffic inconvenience; human chains, candlelight vigils, chanting outside the consulates, all while being careful to remain on the sidewalk. Police even praised the protestors for being orderly and cleaning up after themselves. But this also brought them minimal attention. Then they decided to get attention by bringing out the Tiger flags. Harper's gov. said hell no, put the flags down and then we will talk to you. When the Tamil Tigers were told of this they urged Canadian Tamils to do so. Does that sound like a terrorist organization to you? Or does it sound like an organization that truly cares about those they are fighting for and are willing to obey in order to be heard? So the protestors did for a couple of days. Nobody from Harper's government so much as coughed in their direction. So the flags came back. And why not? After more demos, they were told to keep it at Queens Park. That happened too. Nobody responded. The issue wasn't even front page news anymore. So, after all that time of listening to orders and no one batting an eyelash, they decided to make the government PAY ATTENTION. I mean people have been on HUNGER strikes for weeks fer crying out loud. And all over the world, same protests.

We all apologize to those who the highway blockade was not just a minor inconvenience but major, such as for a hospital visit. For those who ran out of gas, your fault. It was obvious it was a long wait and you shouldn't leave your engine idling for more than a minute anyway. Bad for the environment. However the cops need to be blamed also for not properly guiding the cars out. They were almost all stationed with the protestors. In case more bicycle lives were taken and they needed to draw more blood. Huge highway accidents have happened and have been dealt with efficiently before. Police Chief Blair is saying it was reprehensible of us to place elderly and children up in front of the police barricade. Why? It's the Metro Police. Are they dangerous?

I wonder what you would do if a stranger with murderous intentions were to barge into your house and back you up against a wall. Would you not fight back? Therein lies the whole idea of the Tigers. They are freedom fighters. Initially they tried peaceful tactics, but that did not work. The people they are fighting for are oppressed and have no other voice in that country. The Singhalese government has been hell-bent on wiping them out for decades. They have made their intentions clear on numerous occasions through numerous racist policies. The Tamils had addressed their concerns through the democratic process, through peaceful protests and demonstrations. The government didn't care. Instead they unleashed state terrorism. Even Singhalese Buddhist monks pushed for these violent measures(I wouldn't call them true Buddhist monks because they wore their hair long, were wined and dined by politicians, and acted violently towards peaceful Tamil protesters).
Coexistence is not possible with the sort of mindset that exists in the Singhalese government which is set on keeping Tamils second class citizens and even wiping them out. What is needed is a separate state. And that is what the protestors are asking for.

Also, many of the atrocious actions attributed to the Tigers is spin and propaganda by the Singhalese government. The Tigers do not do civilian suicide bombings. And children willingly go to get recruited, and parents willingly send them. The Sri Lankan government has told civilians to go to safety zones and then promptly shelled them there. Even Human Rights Watch has spoken of this. And you say that human shields are something the Tigers do. Please. The Tigers are on Terrorist Watch lists only because (and if it still hasn't hit you by this line...) the Sri Lankan government claims they are! Spin and propaganda by the government has helped demonize the Tigers. Even Tamils in the capital city of Colombo have no idea that civilian lives are being depleted everyday. Singhalese journalists who dared stand up to the government have been persecuted. Some killed, others have fled the country. If there isn't anything to hide then why this extreme cover-up? Why are there no NGOs and international media allowed into the country? Not because as the government claims "the NGOs will be at risk" since that's what those NGOs exist for. They exist to serve those in war zones. Come ON. If this is just Tamil propaganda, then why are Singhalese journalists, academics and other Singhalese condemning the government?
Because the fact is, the Singhalese forces rape, butcher, do indiscriminate bombing, and use chemical weapons. Did nobody learn from the Holocaust? From Darfur?

It's strange that the Singhalese government openly declares its hatred of the Tamil race (which should ring alarms but hasn't apparently registered with any nation or person) but also tries to cover up its intentions.

"terrorist organization (as determined by over 20 countries)"- I hope you rethink that statement now. Did you know Nelson Mandela was hated at one point? An arm of his political group was violent. Now he is respected and hailed as essentially a freedom fighter.

Governments all over the world are focusing on the terrorism label and doing nothing and ignoring the fact that there are civilian lives at stake! You don't need to take sides to save innocent lives.

There is so much more to this issue. Here are some links for those who want to know the full story:

Dr. Brian Senewiratne, a respected and prominent Singhalese academic who has been threatened numerous times since he spoke out against the government: http://www.tamilnation.org/forum/brian/index.htm

http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=13&id=5693

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=169254&archive=28,35,2009

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=169123