Sri Lanka Day Event at the Harbour Front Centre on September 20 & 21, 2008

-Full text of the Letter to Police Chief Bill Blair, Toronto Police Service by the President of the SLUNA is follows;

by Mahinda Gunasekera

(September 21, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am writing to let you know that I was a participant in the above community event organized to showcase Sri Lanka’s rich culture, cuisine, export products including the world famous tea for which the country has earned much deserved praise. The purpose of the event has been to afford the multi-cultural community of our great city a special occasion to get to know their fellow citizens of Sri Lankan background and interact in a friendly manner towards building closer ties, that would contribute to the greater good of Toronto which we all call our home.

We are however concerned about acts of intimidation and disruption of the event by a segment of the Canadian Tamil community who are apparently supporters of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is a banned organization in Canada. Whist we recognize and cherish the right to protest against anything under the sun which Canada grants to her citizens, we are of the opinion that there are certain boundaries which the protesters must adhere to, as otherwise they are encroaching into the space which other citizens have obtained to carry on a legitimate activity or event such as the Sri Lanka Day. The protesters need to be kept outside the space where the other citizens have gathered to conduct an approved community event which has been put together with much effort and cost. We are disappointed that the law enforcement authorities were negligent in allowing these protesters to move into the Harbour Front Centre and even utter provocative remarks and attempt to intimidate those participating in the Sri Lanka Day event.

Furthermore, we wish to draw your attention to the usual ruse adopted by the extremist Canadian Tamil group to falsely alert the Police Service to a non-existent bomb threat at the event premises to coincide with the opening ceremony for no other reason but to disrupt the smooth functioning of the event. They have resorted to this same tactic to disrupt a cultural show organized to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in the past. We believe the caller probably used a Public Phone Booth for this purpose, to avoid the authorities from tracing the phone call back to the person responsible for this criminal mischief.

We find that the protesters are permitted to trespass on the rights of other citizens engaged in legitimate activities that contribute to greater understanding and betterment of our multi-cultural city. These transgressions are mostly taking place where the extremist Canadian Tamil group that supports Tamil Tiger Terrorists resort to disruptive behaviour to obstruct other law abiding citizens of this city. How much longer are we to allow them to get away with their obstruction and intimidation? There is a serious possibility of a breach of the peace if the authorities continue to look the other way and allow protesters to push their boundaries in such a way to forcibly encroach into areas legitimately occupied by others.

We trust that you will review the process of granting permits to protesters and also ensure that they are properly policed and kept within the permitted boundaries.- Sri Lanka Guardian