The human Tamil wall

Goodness, was I surprised when I got out of class at 3:00pm today at Dundas and Yonge, downtown T-dot. Drums were beating, Tamil Eelam flags were whipping in the wind and it seemed like hundreds of people were chanting to end genocide.

Genocide? Apparantly, the Tamil's inhabit a portion of Sri Lanka (and India as well) and conflict has been stirring since the 1980's, but things have been heating up in recent years. The Tamils are accusing the Sri Lankan government of committing genocide on its people. A person demonstrating in Brussels was quoted saying the government is killing up to 50 Tamils a day. Previous protests in Toronto have reached up to 45,000 people. Officials have warned downtowners to find alternate routes around the core, as Canadian Tamils have expressed they wish to create a wall from Front Street, up Yonge to Bloor, across to University and down. Protests seem to be taking place all over the world, I've heard of Brussels and Paris, so far.

I need to read up on this conflict, I really have never seen a protest of this magnitude up close before. I could still hear the shouts from nearly three streetcar stops away at Jarvis. I'm impressed.

-- the golden girl