Tamil supporters rally in Canada

OTTAWA, April 22 (UPI) -- An estimated 30,000 people rallied in Ottawa Tuesday, urging the Canadian government to help protect Sri Lankans trapped between army and rebel fighters.

Gathered on the front lawn at Parliament Hill, they chanted, marched and waved flags to draw attention to their plea for Canadian help in ending Sri Lanka's long civil war, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. The Sri Lankan military has the Tamil Tigers cornered in a small area of the country but tens of thousands of civilians huddled in the same territory.

One protester, Prabha Sinna, said the Tamil community is growing more and more frustrated at the absence lack of effort by the Canadian government to head off unnecessary bloodshed.

"This is not the Canada that I understood. This is definitely not the Canada that I understood," Sinna said.

Some Canadian lawmakers have expressed a desire to help.

"Canada's the largest expatriate community [of Tamils] in the world," said NDP Leader Jack Layton. "We should be taking the lead in calling for a cease-fire. We should be much stronger in the action that we're taking."