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Canada probing waving of LTTE flags at Toronto rally
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by Suranee | March 19, 2009 at 09:19 am
261 views | 3 Recommendations | 3 comments
Toronto: With thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils waving the flags of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) at a rally here Monday, Canadian authorities have launched an investigation whether their action violated the nation's new anti-terror laws.
The current Conservative government banned the LTTE in 2006 for using suicide bombers and child soldiers in its goal for an independent nation for Sri Lankan Tamils.
Supporting a banned organisation also constitutes violation of Canada's anti-terror laws.
More than 50,000 Tamils had joined in a "human chain'' in the heart of the city, urging Canada to lift its ban on the LTTE and seek support for an independent Tamil Eelam.
Toronto police say they have launched an investigation whether waving of LTTE flags contituted violation of new anti-terror laws.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 11:34 on March 19th, 2009
And then concluded it is perfectly legal to use Tamil Eelam flag in the demonstrations.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/03/18/tamil-flag.html?Authorized=1&AuthenticationKey=2_14_008a795f-69ba-4b11-b667-67e314d7fa87.pbccaiamobenfo
at 18:45 on March 19th, 2009
I don't think supporting an "organization that uses suicide bombers and child soldiers" will bring a solution to the problem.
I hope that the Toronto police includes Hezbollah and Hamas too in their investigation.
at 11:44 on March 19th, 2009
Tamil flags flown at protest legal, Toronto police say
The display of Tamil Tiger flags during a protest by members of Toronto's Tamil community this week was legal, Toronto police said Wednesday, despite the fact the rebel group is banned in Canada as a terrorist organization.
Thousands of Toronto Tamils formed a human chain around the downtown core on Monday, to call attention to the civil war in Sri Lanka and call for Canada to pressure the Sri Lankan government to engage Tamil rebels in ceasefire talks.
During the protest, men, women and children of all ages waved the red flags of the militant group that has led the fight for an independent Tamil nation in the north of the South Asian island.
On Tuesday, the city's police force said its legal department was looking into whether the flags violated Canada's anti-terrorism laws. But police spokesman Mark Pugash said the force's lawyers deemed there was "nothing illegal" about displaying the group's insignia.
"The best advice that we have from our lawyers is that it does not contravene any law," Pugash said.
The flags, which feature the image of a tiger jumping through a ring of fire under two crossed rifles, are easily available through the Internet on the website Craigslist and can even be delivered by calling a local number.
The rebel group is officially banned in Canada since the Conservative government listed the Tigers — known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — as a terrorist organization in 2006 for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers during Sri Lanka's bloody 25-year civil war.