TORONTO — A peaceful demonstration escalated late Sunday into what Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair called an“unlawful” and “dangerous” situation, after 5,000 Tamil protesters marched up an on-ramp to the Gardiner Expressway, closing the downtown highway in both directions.
As darkness fell and chill set in Sunday night, Tamils fighting to draw attention to the civil war raging in their homeland vowed to occupy the expressway indefinitely, with women and small children standing face to face with an outnumbered phalanx of police in riot gear.
Blair admitted police were caught off guard after demonstrators winding their way from University Avenue to Queen’s Park suddenly stormed up the ramp at Spadina Avenue shortly after 7 p.m., paralyzing traffic and inflicting gridlock on Toronto.
He said the danger caused by the protesters is mostly to themselves, expressing particular concern for small children scattered throughout the crowd.
“It’s an extremely dangerous situation to put children on front line of a protest in that way,” he said. “There are 2,000 people on that ramp. If something were to happen that they try to get off that ramp very quickly, the likelihood of people being stampeded is quite significant.”
The protesters must be moved for their own security, as well as for the sake of public order, but Blair emphasized police do not want to do anything to exacerbate the volatile situation.
“Notwithstanding the fact they have created a very dangerous situation, we don’t want to make it more dangerous by an escalation of force,” he said.
“We’re going to try to find every peaceful way to get them off of there.”
Efforts to negotiate with the demonstrators were proving futile, Blair added, calling them “unco-operative” and fractured.
He could not promise the highway would be open again for morning rush hour.
Mayor David Miller issued a statement calling for protesters to “peacefully relocate” to a safer location.
“Toronto’s Tamil community is understandably concerned about what is happening to friends and family in Sri Lanka. They have an absolute right to make those concerns known and to protest. Endangering public safety by occupying the Gardiner or other public highways is not the right way to make that statement,” he said.
Protesters continued to file onto the elevated highway late Sunday night, demanding Canada intervene in the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka.
It was unclear how long the protesters planned to occupy the Gardiner.
Protesters said the move to the highway was “spontaneous.”
“I know it’s an inconvenience but we’re talking about human lives,” Myvili Rangith, 28, said. “We’ll stay until we get an answer from the government.
We want the Canadian government to call for a ceasefire. We don’t want to lose anymore of our people.”
Elbert Joseph added: “Stephen Harper is sleeping. I am a Canadian. What does Canada stand for?”
Protesters said the community converged downtown in response to the news of more civilian deaths in Sri Lanka. Almost 400 civilians were killed and more than 1,100 wounded in the past day during intensive shelling in Sri Lanka’s war zone.
Civilians trapped in the area have little food or water and only makeshift shelter, according to those who have managed to flee the combat zone. About 700 civilians escaped Sunday alone, according to the military.
The Tigers declared a “unilateral cease-fire” two weeks ago; but they continue to hold civilians and fight government troops in sea and land battles. The government, for its part, declared April 27 that combat operations had “reached their conclusion.” It says its military campaign is a hostage rescue operation.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Tam...826/story.html 
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