Archive/File: pub/people/m/maynard.drew/press toronto.0693
Last-Modified: 1994/04/18

Article: 22341 of alt.activism
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,alt.society.civil-disobedience,alt.feminism
From: GECKO 
Subject: Neo-Nazi Attack on TAMIL Refugee & Protest March in TORONTO
Message-ID: <1993Jun10.205711.28038@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: The Zoo of Ids
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1993 20:57:11 GMT
Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Lines: 192

The following is reproduced without permission from the June 9th edition 
of the Toronto Star newspaper, page A2: 
 
          NEO-NAZISM RISE CITED AFTER BEATING OF IMMIGRANT 
 
                           By Peter Small 
                            TORONTO STAR 
 
   A vicious, racially motivated beating that has left a Tamil refugee 
claimant partially paralyzed is part of an alarming increase in neo-Nazi 
thuggery, anti-racism groups say. 
   Next week, Metro police plan to release statistic on this year's number 
of crimes based on hatred of race, nationality, religion, or sexual 
orientation.  A police source has pegged the number at around *70. 
   Ottawa police are probing 80 hate-based crimes since January, said 
Detective Dan Dunlop of that city's bias crime unit. 
   "There's no question that there has been an increase in agressive or 
assaultive behavior by neo-Nazis and racist factions in Canada," said 
Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress. 
   "The real question is: is it planned, or just part and parcel of a 
criminal mindset?" 
   Farber blamed the increase on a lack of police will to fight.  "Racist 
groups and individuals are pushing and pushing, and no one is pushing 
back," he said. 
   Antoni Shelton, executive director of the Urban Alliance on Race 
Relations, agreed racist attacks are on the rise and blamed neo-fascist 
groups and their successful youth recruitment drives. 
   "The rise of these groups around the country has been documented," 
Shelton said, adding that the alliance wants more documentation of hate 
crimes themselves to better tackle them. 
   Two weekends ago, more than **500 white supremacists and anti-racist 
protesters clashed in front of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.  Three 
arrests were pending in that melee yesterday. 
   In Kitchener last week, a man and a youth were charged after a Jewish 
store owner confronted three people, two wearing Nazi regalia, and a fight 
ensued. 
   In Sunday's brutal beating, Sivarajah Vinasithamby, 41, was attacked as 
he was finishing his shift as a dishwasher at the Tasty restaurant on 
Bloor St. W. near Clinton St. at about 1:30 a.m. 
   Police describe the attack as unprovoked and racially motivated. 
   "I'm very worried for his life," said his wife, Sivarajah Bawany, 33, 
through a translator. 
   She has been spending all day by his bedside in Toronto Western 
Hospital, while their three children, girls aged two and eight and a boy 
aged six, are looked after by a cousin's family. 
   It's the first instance of bigotry the man's family has encountered in 
Canada, said his cousin, Para Sinnathurai, 40. 
   Described by fellow restaurant workers as quiet and friendly, 
Vinasithamby fled to Canada two years ago to escape persecution after the 
Sri-Lankan army took over his village, his cousin said. 
   He had taught high school science there while working toward a bachelor 
of science degree, Sinnathurai said. 
   His wife has a bachelor of economics degree and is studying English and 
typing so she can get a job. 
 
                       (With files from Dottie O'Neill) 
 
 
            * Keep in mind, over 500 hate crimes were REPORTED in 
              Toronto last year... 
           ** This is incorrect.  Around 500 demonstrators showed up 
              at the anti-racist rally, and marched to the location where 
              RoHoWa (Racial Holy War) was playing for a gathering of 
              neo-Nazi Heritage Front/Church of the Creator members. By 
              the time of the encounter on Parliament Hill, only about 50 
              protestors remained to face between 50 and 75 white 
              supremacists... 
 
 
_______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
                         PROTEST IN TORONTO 
_______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
            (Adapted from an Anti-Racist Action pamphlet) 
 
              UPCOMING DEMONSTRATION AGAINST NEO-NAZIS: 
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
                               NAZI 
                             ATTACKS?! 
 
                             SHUT 'EM 
                               DOWN 
 
                     @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 
                     @ FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 7PM @ 
                     @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 
 
                 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
                 >> Assemble: JOHN INNES CENTRE << 
                 <<     (QUEEN & SHERBOURNE)    >> 
                 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 
 
 
                          MARCH ON A NAZI 
                        CENTRE OF OPERATION 
 
                            ANTI-RACIST 
                              ACTION 
 
_______________________________________________________________________________ 
 
 
                         WHAT THEY'VE DONE 
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
              * ARSON: In March, a neo-Nazi campaign of 
              phone and physical harrassnent of workers at 
              a residence for young women culminated in a 
              firebomb attack on the home. 
 
              * ASSAULT: That same month five neo-Nazis 
              jumped one Black community activist after a 
              night-time community meeting. Last week Heritage 
              Front members hospitalized anti-racists and 
              bystanders using baseball bats, bottles, and 
              chains at a rally in Ottawa 
 
              * HARRASSMENT: Neo-Nazis have organized and 
              directed escalating phone harrassment, death 
              threats, physical surveillance and intimidation 
              of anti-racists. 
 
              * BOMB THREATS: Neo-Nazis called in bomb threats 
              to an East End elementary school. 
 
              * CONNECTIONS: In April, the Church of the Creator 
              held a demonstration in Toronto in suppourt of The 
              Order, an American neo-Nazi terrorist organization 
              responsible for the assassination of a radio talk 
              show host in Denver, Colorado. 
 
              And just in this past week here in Toronto: 
 
              * KIDNAPPING: On Tuesday, at 10:00 a.m. a 22-year-old 
              Heritage Front member in the process of resigning from 
              the Heritage Front was abducted by three Church of the 
              Creator members who handcuffed, beat, and threatened to 
              inject window cleaner into the former Heritage Front Member. 
              A raid on the Maxome Ave .residence (Bayview-Steeles area of 
              North York) of six Church of the Creator members 
              yielded a 12-gauge shotgun, a .45-calibre semi-automatic and 
              a .22-calibre pistol, and the arrest of the three kidnappers 
              Drew Maynard, Elkar Fisher, and Eric Fisher (a former sergeant 
              of the Canadian Airborne Regiment and head of security and 
              counter-intelligence for the Church of the Creator AND the 
              Heritage Front). 
 
              * ASSAULT: On Sunday, at 1:30 a.m. a Tamil immigrant, 
              Sivarajah Vinasithamby, was brutally beaten by neo-Nazis 
              outside the Tasty restaurant and is now in hospital, 
              partly paralyzed and in a coma.  One Nazi skinhead, Jason 
              Robert Hoolans, has been charged; he has links with the 
              Heritage Front and the Church of the Creator.  In court 
              Hoolans admitted to having a drinking problem and an 
              uncontrollable temper. 
 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
                             +++++++++++++++++ 
                             | GET INVOLVED! | 
                             +++++++++++++++++ 
 
               If you want to join Anti-Racist Action, start an ARA 
               in your community, or just get some information, 
               contact at our maiing address (listed below) 
 
                           ======================= 
                           | ANTI-RACIST ACTION  | 
                           | P.O. BOX 664, STN C | 
                           |  TORONTO, ONTARIO   | 
                           |       M6J 3S1       | 
                           ======================= 
 
               Or call us and leave a message at: 
 
                              ################## 
                              # (416) 363-7541 # 
                              ################## 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
                                               - GECKO 
 
 
 
gecko@zooid.guild.org 

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