Tamil Protests downtown

[Brian69]

I'm concerned that scuffles will start breaking out between between the Tamils and the angrier elements of those who are being inconvenienced downtown. If these protests do continue after the war ends in Sri Lanka this will not end well.

 

[confusion]

These people are going about this completely wrong.

I just spent an extra 2 hours in my car thanks to these idiots. Whatever sympathy I may have had, is now gone.

Get out of Toronto and get out of my life. Enough is enough.

 

[casaguy]

Off topic, but the LTTE leader looks like a real weaner:

How could that convince you to do anything?

Too funny. Thanks for such a good laugh.

 

[urbandreamer]

Toronto Tamils are hilarious, here's a bit of what I witnessed today in the hospital district:

Tons of Tamils milling about looking like they're on holiday, oblivious to the rest of Torontonians, while Torontonians pretend to be oblivious to them! lol. They look like working class peasants, perhaps even unemployed ppl, which is actually why I think they bring out their entire families....cheap family holiday for folk from outer suburbia (Scartown perhaps?) Tamils are making hot dog vendors very happy.

Tamils using their kids, aka, early brainwashing.... Should Children's Aid Society get involved?

Tamils on the subway everywhere, but ultimately, looking less like terrorists and more like timid Canucks....

Shall us regular joe average Canucks start a counter protest?

(Overheard white couple from Oakville saying: "If us white Canadians squatted on the highway we'd have been arrested!")

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Tamils using their kids, aka, early brainwashing.... Should Children's Aid Society get involved?

this would have serious implications for many religious groups.

Off topic, but the LTTE leader looks like a real weaner:

How could that convince you to do anything?

could be worse:

 

[Brian69]

The guitars are the icing on the cake.

As far as the LTTE leader goes, I guess even ruthless murderers can sometimes look completely harmless.

 

[lordmandeep]

Tamils using their kids, aka, early brainwashing.... Should Children's Aid Society get involved?

Court decisions after court decision has shown you can train your kids to be Nazi's if you wish.


If you deny your kid the necessities or put them in danger, or hurt them, that is the only way to have your kids taken away.

 

[Yoshimura]

If conditions got bad enough in Toronto, we could have a mini world war with so many different factions!

 

[lordmandeep]

the last thing any of us want to do in Toronto is to create a great deal of racial tensions for no reason.

Last thing I want Toronto be is like LA.

 

[ITcomputer]

this would have serious implications for many religious groups.




could be worse:

could be even worse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dThkaV-2ebw

 

[kEiThZ]

Ughhh...can we stop visually polluting UT?

 

[Brian69]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/05/13/tamil-wednesday.html

Many of those protesting are young, passionate and relentless in their support for the cause. A few spoke to CBC News.

"When I see pictures of children being bombed by illegal weapons, when I see pictures of elderly women being killed by chemical weapons, it makes me want to act. It makes me want to be vocal about the issue," said Gormy Theva

Another protestor, Janani Sivathasan, said she feels a strong connection to Sri Lanka, though she has never been there.

"My parents are always telling me about it," she said. "I can't wait until we get our separate nation so I can go back home and live there."

The number of university students who are organizing and leading these protests and those younger still who are participating with such fervor is a bit unsettling. Many have never lived in or even visited Sri Lanka or left when they were very young, have been brought up in the diaspora being fed LTTE propaganda (and apparently ignore or disbelieve the terrorist actions of the group) who idealize the creation of the homeland (Tamil Eelam) and some even talk about moving there once it happens. There is no information out there that will balance what they have been taught and these beliefs are already entrenched.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ Exactly. And they are never told the bad things the LTTE did or does. Most of these university students have no idea about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi or the involvement of the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka (or they only hear about the few human rights abuses by the peacekeepers as opposed to the fact that 1100 of them got killed trying to disarm the LTTE as per agreements that were signed). And when confronted with these facts (LTTE child soldiers, suicide bombers, links to other terror groups, etc.) they simply blow it off as Sri Lankan propaganda.

 

[urbandreamer]

However, recall the Israeli invasion of Gaza earlier this year? Many deaths on both sides of that conflict throughout the years, and iirc, protests by both sides here in Toronto. The major difference, iirc, is unlike the Palestians/Israelis in Toronto, the Tamils are bringing their kids along....perhaps a sign of their overall poverty within the GTA? (aka, they can't afford childcare?)

Then in 1999, the Serbians firebombing the American Consulate in Toronto....

War is nasty, and emotional ppl will react.

(It's hilarious reading about that teenager who's never been to Sri Lanka--such a typical 1st/2nd generation immigrant story--I predict she will NEVER move back to Sri Lanka.)

 

[Roy G Biv]

These people are going about this completely wrong.

I just spent an extra 2 hours in my car thanks to these idiots. Whatever sympathy I may have had, is now gone.

Get out of Toronto and get out of my life. Enough is enough.

Incoveniencing other Torontonians seems to slowly advance their cause. Everyone knows about the situation, and politicans are even weighing in. Who knows what happens a week from now.

Collective sympathy wasn't really doing much for them.