Toronto, March 17 (IANS) More than 50,000 Tamils jammed the streets of downtown Toronto Tuesday demanding international intervention in Sri Lanka to stop “genocide” of innocent people.
Beating dhols and holding placards, they formed a human chain across the major artery roads of the city from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., denouncing Sri Lanka as a “failed and terrorist state.”

They shouted slogans hailing Vellupillai Prabhakaran as their “national leader,” equating him with South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Calling upon the international community to intervene in Sri Lanka, they said the world should stop the “genocide” of Tamils as it “saved the Jewish people” from total annihilation from Hitler’s Holocaust.

However, the protesters said in leaflets, that the world was “not only watching the genocide by the Sri Lankan government, but also supporting (President) Mahinda Rajapaksa’s actions to continue to commit genocide against the Tamil people.

“Why is that the world that has recognized Israel as a country for the Jewish people is not willing to accept Tamil Eelam for the Tamils?”

Most of the young and Canadian-born protesters said they will not stop till the dream of an independent Tamil country on the Sri Lankan island is realized.

“Today’s protest march is part of a worldwide rally by the Tamils to highlight the tragic situation in Sri Lanka. Our people also marched to the UN offices in Geneva and the European Union headquarters in Brussels,” Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) spokesman David Poopalapillai told IANS.

He said Canadian Tamils will collect signatures from people from all walks of life in support of their cause and present these to Canadian leaders for intervention in Sri Lanka.

“Our earlier rallies were for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Now we want to tell the world that the only solution in Sri Lanka is an independent sate for Tamils to let them live in dignity,” he said.

Toronto, Canada’s biggest city, is home to most of the 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamils in this country.