Home | Contacts | Classifieds | Archives | Media Kit | Email Us |
A crowd estimated in the thousands participated in a march and "human chain" demonstration through the streets of Park Extension on Sun. Feb. 1, to show solidarity with the Tamil community and their concerns over mistreatment in their homeland by the Sri Lankan government. Around 2 p.m., the protesters started eastward from Jean Talon Street at the corner of l'Acadie Boulevard and worked their way to Pie IX Street.
Walking more than six kilometres on the sidewalk, people participating voiced their concerns. Non-Tamils also participated, supporting the Tamils in solidarity. There were placards expressing concern over alleged atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan government on Tamil civilians, including children, and requesting the Sri Lankan authorities stop what the Tamils regard as a genocide against them.
Even in severely cold weather, people came out, regardless of age, to speak up for their loved ones in Sri Lanka by begging the international community for justice towards the Tamils. Certain individuals are said to have even taken the day off their work to join the demonstration. In the community, Tamil shops were closed and black flags were hung outside, mourning the deaths of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Most of the participants were young Tamils, born in Canada, who were speaking out for brothers and sisters in their home land. As planned, the demonstration ended at 5 p.m., although the participants continued for a while demonstrating outside the Parc Metro station. In many parts of the world, the extended Tamil community has been conducting an awareness campaign and continues to plead for an end to the war they say is being conducted against them in Sri Lanka.
They say the government in Sri Lanka has been indiscriminately using cluster bombs, white phosphor missiles and multi-barrel artillery on Tamil civilians. According to local Tamils, more than 5,000 bombs are dropped in Tamil territory in Sri Lanka on a daily basis, especially, they claim, in a designated "safety zone," on refugee camps, schools and even hospitals, killing and injuring hundreds of Tamils, while also violating international human rights laws.
They maintain that the war on the Tamils in Vanni in northern Sri Lanka has received relatively little attention from international media, because the Sri Lankan government denies access to foreign journalists and human rights monitors into the affected area. As a result, they say, the suffering of Tamil civilians within the Vanni region remains largely unknown to the rest of the world.
"If the international community keeps ignoring the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils but continues to force people to seek shelter in the Sri Lankan military controlled areas, as the Sri Lankan government demands them to do, the only truthful outcome will be the deaths of 450,000 more innocent, internally displaced Tamils, making this the foulest genocide the world will have seen," the Park Extension demonstrators said in a statement.
"We the Quebec Tamil community beg of you, our fellow Canadians, fostered with the ideals of humanity, peace and justice, to open your eyes to this cruelty, and to take immediate action," they said.
BACK