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Tamil Protests downtown

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Sri Lankan people are some of the nicest people I've ever met, but I don't like what's happening. While they're getting their point across, it's at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Torontonians.

If every group in Toronto hit the streets like that about gripes from their country, we would not function like a proper city.

The police are in a tough situation, if they start clearning them out, there will be some idiots who fight back. Police will have to use force, then YouTube will be filled with clips of police bruatlity.

It's a no-win for cops.
 
Your cowardly indulgence towards these people is charming and somewhat endearing, but not terribly helpful in the long run. I hope stronger people than you are in positions of authority in this country. And I'm frankly shocked that you're shocked, or are you that *blindly*, naively tolerant towards illegal activity conducted by people who would not hesitate to send their brethren strapped with bombs to blow you and me into a million pieces?

And if you think those Canadian flags *aren't* being waved as a cynical exercise in ass-covering PR, then your naivete goes beyond disappointing to outright disturbing.
 
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fiendishlibrarian said:
And I'm frankly shocked that you're shocked, or you that *blindly* naively tolerant towards illegal activity?
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Blocking a city road for 6-hours on a Sunday? Good grief, how many times does that happen each year in Toronto? The City of Toronto blocked the same road for much longer the previous Sunday.

Protesting, is hardly "illegal activity".

There is significant evidence that the government of Sri Lanka is targetting civilians - and there were over 400 people killed in the last 48-hours - with little reaction from the international community. Doesn't that concern you?

Or is all that concerns you is that you can drive down the Gardiner without any inconvenience. (and I guess that won't last for long, given that the City wants to knock the highway down ...).

I'm absolutely shocked at the complete lack of humanity of someone who doesn't care that thousands are dying!
 
The fact that you can't see the difference between scheduled maintenance of the Gardiner, and the illegal hijacking of it demonstrates to me that you're clearly incapable of any real significant thought on this issue, where your sympathies far outweigh what little intelligence you have. You truly are illustrative of the axiom of having all heart and no brains. But that's ok, the LTTE loves you for it.

And there are many other conflicts out there where those affected by them do not feel the need to unilaterally and illegally occupy a major expressway into a city. The difference here is that these Tamils are using the brute, cynical power their numbers allow to pull this off. They know it, everyone knows it. And they know as well the race card they are more than capable of pulling out should the police actually try to enforce the law. Again, they know it, everyone knows it. Except for you, but I can't say I'm surprised as your naivete seems boundless.

If this was a demonstration put on by, say, Croatians or Georgians, or whomever, we would *not* be having this discussion.
 
Whoaccio said:
Ohh, and don't protest at the US Consulate.
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But apparently they want/demand that the US go and insert itself into the internal affairs of a sovereign country. Kind of like the way thousands of people were previously protesting outside the US Consulate when the US did go and insert itself into the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.
 
fiendishlibrarian said:
The fact that you can't see the difference between scheduled maintenance of the Gardiner, and the illegal hijacking of it demonstrates to me that you're clearly incapable of any real significant thought on this issue, where your sympathies far outweigh what little intelligence you have. You truly are illustrative of the axiom of having all heart and no brains. But that's ok, the LTTE loves you for it.

And there are many other conflicts out there where those affected by them do not feel the need to unilaterally and illegally occupy a major expressway into a city. The difference here is that these Tamils are using the brute, cynical power their numbers allow to pull this off. They know it, everyone knows it. And they know as well the race card they are more than capable of pulling out should the police actually try to enforce the law. Again, they know it, everyone knows it. Except for you, but I can't say I'm surprised as your naivete seems boundless.

If this was a demonstration put on by, say, Croatians or Georgians, or whomever, we would *not* be having this discussion.
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Just so that way everyone doesn't waste their time on you, I've already reported your post to the mods. nfitz did not deserve to have his intelligence insulted for what was a legitimate argument.
 
Jesus, this thread is appalling. Would you be beating the same they're-all-terrorists their-sick-culture drum if it were Irish Canadians protesting for their independence?

These are Canadians. We don't make it a prerequisite that our citizens not give a shit about their ancestral countries.
 
Well, they are Canadians - thus they must follow the rule of law or otherwise be subjected to punative measures. Multiculturalism does not equate to a license to behave unlawfully. Being concerned about your ancestral country is one thing - disrupting the public order is another, and quite frankly, it just turns individuals who might otherwise be sympathetic off even more.

As to the use of force - teargas and a few selective arrests probably would do it.

AoD
 
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Protesting, is hardly "illegal activity".
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These are Canadians. We don't make it a prerequisite that our citizens not give a shit about their ancestral countries.
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No one is saying that protesting, in and of itself, is illegal. No one is saying that anyone should forget about their ancestral countries. If you're going to respond to an argument, at least make an attempt to respond to what people are actually saying.

The debate is about whether this protest should be allowed to block a road like the Gardiner. I personally don't think it should; if the goal is to bring awareness of your issue to the general population, there are far more effective ways (such as the protests of the last few weeks that did not block any roads) of accomplishing this.

If their goal is to actually resolve the situation, how do they possibly think they can do this by protesting in Canada? The Canadian government has already registered a protest with Sri Lanka about the civilian casualties and has also sent humanitarian aid. You might say that this won't accomplish anything, but what more can Canada do beyond military intervention (which is clearly not going to happen; anyone that thinks it will is fooling themselves)?

All these current road-blocking protests are doing is turning people against the protestors' cause (and, I suppose, educating people who don't otherwise bother to educate themselves about world events and who have been hiding in a basement during all the previous rounds of protests).
 
"I was kind of sympathetic to the genocide of your people until you started blocking my car!"

I'm not saying I believe protesting on the Gardiner should be condoned, but the reaction to this is disgusting. .
 
SimonP:

Calling for deportations or otherwise getting into the ethnicity game is unproductive - but at the same time, it's not like the other groups you've suggested made it a habit of disrupting traffic for more than a day at a time.

AoD
 
Callling this "genocide" is quite excessive - that term should be reserved exclusively for circumstances where there is a systematic effort to eliminate an ethnic group - which is absent in this case.

AoD
 
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