Tamils protest in downtown Toronto

TORONTO, May 11 (UPI) -- Dozens of Tamil activists occupied a Toronto park Monday while others outside the Sri Lankan consulate called for intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war.

The flag-waving protesters, occupying downtown Toronto's Queen's Park, in front of the Ontario Legislative Building, are demanding international sanctions against Sri Lanka until it enters into a ceasefire with Tamil rebels in the country's north.

They caught Toronto police by surprise when, numbering 5,000 at the time, they shut down the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, connecting downtown Toronto with its western suburbs, for six hours Sunday night, the Toronto Star reported.

The activists began their protest after news reports quoted a Sri Lankan government doctor as saying at least 378 civilians -- and perhaps as many as 1,000 -- were killed and more than 1,100 wounded Saturday and Sunday in intensive shelling of a small area controlled by Tamil rebels.

The United Nations Monday called the weekend carnage, including the deaths of more than 100 children, a "bloodbath."

Toronto Mayor David Miller said occupying highways such as the Gardiner Expressway in the future would be unacceptable.

Activist spokesman Senthan Nada told the Star the protesters would be reasonable, but he could not predict what they would do.

"No one wants to cause an inconvenience but ... members of the (Tamil) community have seen their blood relatives massacred and killed in the most inhumane ways," he said. "If this happens after four months of peaceful protests, what else is there to do? That's a question the protesters are asking."

Sri Lankan Tamils have lived on the island off the southern coast of India since the second century B.C.