Tamil protesters say their presence on Parliament Hill should not be confused with support for Tamil terrorists in their homeland of Sri Lanka.

"Our pictures show innocent children and women who are the victims and I don't know how people can misinterpret and say that we are only standing for the Tamil freedom fighters," spokesperson Senthan Nada told CTV Ottawa on Thursday.

Protesters from across the country have lined the streets in front of Parliament Hill for 10 days, as they continue to urge the federal government to intervene in Sri Lanka's bloody civil war.

"We are here for our own relatives and other Tamil people who are in the safe zone being targeted by the Sri Lankan army," said Nada.

Five of the protesters, including a 74-year-old man, are continuing a hunger strike that's now in its eighth day.

The group was so weak on Thursday, they refused to give interviews. One person has already been hospitalized.

They've said they will only begin eating once the Canadian government takes serious action to force Sri Lanka to stop the killings of the Tamil people.

Nada says protesters are looking for Canada to take political and economic action that would result in a ceasefire in the Tamil safe zone.

"Let's recall the Canadian high commissioner to Sri Lanka on a temporary basis for consultation to send a strong message that Canada has asked politely the Sri Lankan government to stop the war," he said.

Although thousands of people gathered in Ottawa to protest over the Easter long weekend, numbers dwindled to a few hundred people on Thursday.

Many protesters have come from Montreal and Toronto, leaving their jobs to stay with relatives or strangers who live in Ottawa. Others, who don't have accommodation, have turned to sleeping in their cars.

"It's not comfortable -- it's not bad either," said Stephen Jeebaratnam, whose been sleeping in his friend's car for the past four nights.

He says the sacrifice he's making is nothing compared to the dangers his relatives face on a daily basis.

"My aunt and uncles back home -- we don't even know where they are right now . . . We don't even know if they are alive right now," said Jeebaratnam.

The United Nations says about 100,000 civilians are trapped in the Sri Lankan war zone with dozens dying every day.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Natalie Pierosara