TamilNet: Toronto protest draws the largest crowd despite a transit strike. ⇒
30 May 2006, lunch time
I'm impressed the rally was so big despite the transit strike. Shima happened to wander by and was at the rally for a little while.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to an event, protest or not, that had Mel Lastman Square so packed.
by sh!ma on May 30 2006, 12:32 pm #
The Tamil diaspora in Toronto is quite big. I’m actually surprised/disappointed that the event didn’t get any press whatsoever from the local papers.
by ramanan on May 30 2006, 12:49 pm #
I was there. The posters are still up. I was only around until about 7:30. The gathering was small around 5, then by 6:30 or so they were lining the area around Yonge with pickets.
Interesting that there was no news coverage. Though my manager was trying to stop by the office at 10, and was harassed by a few of the protesters as they were leaving the parking lot.
by Vic on May 30 2006, 5:49 pm #
Did you go there because you knew it was going on? Or were you just in the area, like Shima? I guess the media didn’t think the protest was that important. Lots of rallies get ignored by the newspapers.
by ramanan on May 30 2006, 6:01 pm #
I was just visiting while I was at work. I had not heard anything about it at all prior to seeing it there in person.
They have some posters up that are a little too graphic for most of the passers by I believe, and they do not seem to have garnered much sympathy from the locals around Mel Lastman Square. (An observation only, I was interested in their demonstration.)
by Vic on May 30 2006, 6:14 pm #
Shima was saying the same thing about the posters. (She also said that while she was there they were speaking in Tamil, which seems a bit pointless if you are trying to appeal to a wider base than the Tamil community.) Like yourself, Shima was at the protest by chance. I’m not sure how much effort it takes to advertise a rally beyond your community, but it seems like it would be worth the effort. (I suspect it is hard to get the press to write about a cause which effects a small minority of the general public.) I see the same sort of behaviour when I attend talks with Shima about democracy in Iran. The entire audience will be Persian. I think causes such as these would be better served if you get a wide variety of people on board.
by ramanan on May 30 2006, 6:41 pm #
If someone *cough*cough* knew enough Tamil to teach me maybe I would have known what they were saying! 8o|
As my luck would have it I ran into one of my kid’s parent, so he translated for me until I had to leave.
by sh!ma on May 31 2006, 1:03 am #