கனடாவில் கொடியிறக்கிய போராட்டம் !

கனடாவில் கொடியிறக்கிய போராட்டம் !

Tue, April 21, 2009
13,000 protesters jam HillBlack flags replace controversial Tamil symbol
Tamils continue protesting at Parliament Hill Wednesday in hopes that the Canadian Government will do something to help bring a immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka.
A sea of thousands of Tamil-Canadian protesters waving black flags surged onto Parliament Hill Tuesday demanding an end to the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka that has claimed thousands of lives.

Although the RCMP estimated the crowd at 33,000 people at its peak, media reports pegged the number in the 12,000 range.

Voices raised in unison, the protesters chanted their demands for the government to stop the violence in their native land and impose political sanctions on the Sri Lankan government.

“Our people are dying back home, there is genocide and civilians are dying,” said Thivya Sivaraman, a demonstrator from Toronto. “There is a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka and the Canadian government hasn’t taken action.”

The protesters hoped their cries for action would act as a siren song drawing parliamentarians — who resumed sitting on Monday after a two-week recess — out to speak to the crowd.
The red and gold banner of the Tamil Tiger rebel fighters — listed as a terrorist group by the Canadian government — that was commonplace earlier in the protest was replaced with plain black flags representing the thousands of Tamil civilians who have lost their lives during the conflict that has spanned more than two decades.
“The black flags are to mourn the dead,” said Senethan Nada. “The Sri Lankan army has started killing in the safe zone and are killing in the thousands by the hour.”

Conflicting reports were coming out of Sri Lanka in recent days as the government claimed it had freed thousands of trapped civilians held by besieged Tamil fighters, and Tamil media groups reported army forces storming the conflict zone and killing innocent civilians.

Shortly before 1 p.m., NDP leader Jack Layton came out to address the crowd, telling them it was time for world leaders to call for a ceasefire.

“The killing must stop, the fighting must stop and Canada should take the lead,” he told the cheering crowd.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the government has spoken to the United Nations and is advocating on behalf of a humanitarian pause to allow civilians to flee the conflict zone.

After meeting with members of the Tamil community yesterday, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff called for Canada’s involvement in bringing about political reconciliation in Sri Lanka and to ensure that humanitarian assistance reached civilians.

Aid couldn’t arrive in the hostile territory soon enough for Toronto resident Muththaiah Murudathasan, whose family and friends remain trapped.

“The government is bombing and every day people are dying,” he said, a black flag fluttering above him.

The protest is now in its third week and has seen crowds ranging in size from a few hundred to thousands.