TORONTO -- Tamil protesters acknowledged public anger caused by their takeover of the Gardiner Expressway but said the unprecedented highway blockade won real political results for their community.
They also said they didn't know what they would do next in their increasingly controversial series of protests since January, which have included a massive human chain, a days-long shutdown of University Ave. and the Sunday night closure of the Gardiner.
The six-hour shutdown of the Gardiner was defused at about 12:30 a.m. yesterday after about 2,000 Tamil demonstrators began to clear the highway after interventions from politicians, including federal NDP Leader Jack Layton and federal Liberal staffers whom protesters said were from leader Michael Ignatieff's office.
"As much as this was an inconvenience, it has sparked some kind of effective action from the leaders of Canada," said Ghormy Theva, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop The War In Sri Lanka.
Theva also acknowledged public concern over the red Tamil Tiger flags being flown by many of the demonstrators.
The Tigers, known for using suicide bombers and targeting civilians, are officially considered a terrorist organization by the Canadian government and 31 other countries around the world.
"There's no denying some of the things they've committed," Theva said. "They have had suicide bombers, they have killed civilians, there's no denying that. But it's a symptom of the problem, not a cause of the problem."
Layton told reporters yesterday in Ottawa that he was in touch by phone with Tamil community leaders, Police Services Board chairman Alok Mukherjee, and other city councillors during the protest. He said the suggestion was made to protesters that they should clear the highway if a commitment was made to have senior government officials meet with the community. The demonstrators agreed and Layton said he got that commitment yesterday.
"I talked to the prime minister this morning and he assured me that senior people would be willing to meet with respective leaders in the community and that's what I had suggested I would try to accomplish on behalf of the community," Layton said.
But Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda said public sympathy was likely to fade after many of the protesters waved the red Tamil Tiger flag.
"I noticed in the coverage of the demonstrations over the weekend that Tamil Tiger flags were being flown which would say to Canadians that they are part, the terrorist organization is part of the demonstrations that happened," Oda said.
Toronto Police Const. Tony Vella said three people -- two women, both 25 and a man in his 30s -- were arrested from the Gardiner protest and that each was charged with assaulting a peace officer and mischief.
"They were released from the station on a promise to appear," Vella said.
It was "really unfortunate" that the highway protesters included children, many of whom were clearly seen standing on the front line, mere feet away from a wall of cops dressed in riot gear, he said.
"It's not recommended to bring children to a protest like that," Vella said. "It's sad to see children up there on the Gardiner Expressway in a protest like that."
At Queen's Park yesterday, dozens of Tamil protesters rallied while hunger striker Gunam Veerakathipilla, 52, endured his ninth day of not eating. Veerakathipilla said he was prepared to die unless Prime Minister Stephen Harper intervenes in the Sri Lankan civil war and helps to broker a ceasefire.
Theva said the protesters are becoming "desperate" over the situation in Sri Lanka, where a decades-long civil war pitting the Sinhalese majority government against the rebel Tigers is reportedly nearing its end with the Tiger leadership holed up in a tiny patch of jungle and the army pummelling them.
About 200,000 Tamils live in the Toronto area. Many of them consider the Tigers to be freedom fighters who act as their only defence against a discriminatory Sinhalese government and as the only agent working toward Tamil self-determination.
"Defeating the Tigers is not going to get the Sri Lankan government far because it's not attacking the root cause," Theva said. "The Tigers are a symptom of the root cause."
BRETT.CLARKSON@SUNMEDIA.CA
