Tamil protesters remained on and around Parliament Hill on Good Friday as their demonstration stretched into a fourth consecutive day.

Several thousand people were in downtown Ottawa, congregating around the Wellington/Metcalfe area. There are some lane reductions but no road closures, according to police.

And there are no signs of the crowd thinning, with more busloads expected from Montreal and Toronto over the weekend.

Drivers are encouraged to avoid Wellington Street between Elgin and Kent. The protest moved off Wellington on Thursday, saying they were responding to frustrated drivers and commuters.

The Ottawa Police Service began distributing pamphlets to the demonstrators on Friday that outlined both their Charter rights and responsibilities under the Criminal Code, along with police protocols.

Tamil activists want the Canadian government to intervene in what they call the Sri Lankan government's genocide against the Tamil people in the country's northern and eastern regions. Tensions ran high with police on Thursday after a dump truck removed many of the protesters' belongings, including tents, banners, and food.

Kana Thulasigamony, who was on third day of a hunger strike, said he has no alternative but to forego nourishment as long as Prime Minister Stephen Harper "doesn't heed" the group's request.

The federal government has called for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka, but will not wade into the issue of demonstrators' rights to express themselves.

""I feel for them," Transport Minister John Baird told CTV Ottawa Friday afternoon. "They've been a persecuted minority for some time, and our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones."

But Canada can do much more than it is now, said protester Lavanya Vithiyanantharasan, as rally members compared the Tamils' plight to mass murder in Rwanda and Sudan's Darfur region.

The rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Government forces in Sri Lanka have been saying for months they are in a final push to defeat the rebels and end the war after a string of major victories in which the rebel administrative capital and main bases were captured.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr