Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Tamil supporters rally in Canada

|
|
 
  
Published: April 22, 2009 at 12:33 AM

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."

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Syrian protests continue
View Caption
fark
Survey finds that men are quick to fall in love, roll over and fall asleep
Nerdiest sport ever: Combat juggling
Photoshop this topless athlete
Man rejects girlfriend's noodles, says toodles by leaving her in poodle of blood. Oodles of boodle...
Mormons tried to posthumously baptize Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel but were...
School principals should probably have background checks processed on them before they are hired...or...