AMRC

Sri Lankan Tamil gangs in Canada clash again.

By Ajit Jain.
331 words
3 November 2000
The Times of India
TOI
English
(c) 2000 The Times of India Group
TORONTO: A clash between two rival Sri Lankan Tamil gangs in a Toronto suburb over last weekend that left two
teenagers dead and two wounded have belied hopes among community leaders of a decline in gang warfare.

The latest clash at Scarborough, east of Toronto, in which police believe a handgun was also used, came days
after the Canadian Tamil Youth Development Center released a report claiming a decline in the activities of Tamil
gang activities.

Metro Toronto Police haven't so far released names of victims pending autopsy reports. Homicide Detective Kim
Carr merely said the families of the dead and injured had been interviewed.

A report in the Toronto Star identified one of the dead teenagers as Sujeven Sritharan, who moved into Canada
with his mother, two brothers and one sister about six years ago. There are an estimated 200,000 Sri Lankan
Tamils in Canada.

According to Police, four young men in a compact car were fired at by another group as they drove into the
parking lot of an apartment building.

Toronto Police Sgt. Robb Knapper said early findings point to three suspects and a handgun.

Sutha Balasingam, who wrote the 50-page report on Tamil gangs, is disappointed over the latest incident as she
feels that it would put the focus once again on the Tamil community in general and youth gang violence in
particular.

"What I found during interviews is that some of these teenagers left Sri Lanka when they were two or three; so
you can't automatically blame it on violence back home when gang activity is present in other cultures,"
Balasinmgam was quoted in media reports as saying.

"To her, violence seems part of many young people's lives these days," one report said.

Balasingam's report puts the number of two main rival amil gangs - the VVT and the AK Kannans - at 200 to 250.
(India Abroad News Service).

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