A Tale Of Two Protests
Again for the second time this week, city of Toronto police have shut down the downtown core of the city. People trying to get home from work to start a long weekend are stuck in road closures and major traffic headaches. People wanting to get downtown to the bus station to maybe head out of town to visit family and friends, are unable to do so. Thousands of Tamil protesters are on the move and the police appear powerless to stop them. So this week alone we have had the city core shut down Sunday, Wednesday and again today.
In the small town of Fort Erie, Ontario there was a protest against a hospital closure of the emergency room. Police arrived and the protest turned ugly. A prominent 64 year old doctor got upset and kicked the police car. He was grabbed from behind, his head thrown onto the police vehicle breaking his glasses, handcuffed and arrested.
Last Sunday evening, as the Tamil protesters ran up an entrance ramp to the Gardener expressway they encountered three policemen on bicycles. Some of them pushed the policemen off the bicycle and proceeded to throw the bikes off the expressway. No one was arrested or charged. I supported their cause at one time but since I saw them using children and women as shields against the police, my sympathy as evaporated.
posted by Rositta @ Friday, May 15, 2009
4 Comments:
Are they afraid of these protesters? It sure sounds like they are. What a mess.
Rudee, there were thousand of them on the road last night and when the police tried to keep them behind a barrier they pushed their way through and occupied all the main streets around downtown for hours. Yes, the police are afraid...they are afraid of being labeled racist. I heard on the news that there are 6000 Tamil Tigers (a terrorist organization) living in Toronto that intimidate the rest of the community to come to these protests. It's a sad thing.
This is becoming a depressing theme in a number of western "democracies". Similar has happened in London.
When the G20 leaders met in London there were protests against the bank bail outs and on other issues. While there was a small anarchist element the Police were nothing but heavy handed and there numerous reports of brutality including one case that lead to the death of a newspaper seller, Ian Tomlinson. You may have seen coverage of that.
We too have our Tamil protestors and they have turned up on numerous occasions blocking roads around Parliament without warning. The Police have been very gentle with them. I do sympathise with their plight but I would like to see more consistency in Policing and in general a greater recognition of the right of peaceful protest.
There should be even handedness between domestic protestors and those that are seen as politically sensitive.
That Luis is precisely my view. As I type this the protest continues and the Tamils have threatened to continue their war here in Toronto. It is said we have the largest Tamil population (300,000) outside of Sri Lanka with over 8000 Tigers living here. Already a Budhist Sinhalese Temple has been torched.
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