Winnipeg rally joins demonstrations across Canada in support of Gaza

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This article was published 04/11/2023 (761 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Palestinian flags waved amid calls to “free Palestine” as hundreds shut down Portage and Main Saturday afternoon.

The rally was part of more than two dozen demonstrations in cities across Canada calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that broke out last month.

The Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba has held rallies nearly every Saturday since news of the war between Israel and Hamas broke Oct. 7.

They’ll continue assembling until a ceasefire happens, said Ramsey Zeid, the association’s president.

“A temporary ceasefire… will not do it,” he said before Saturday’s rally.

He called a full ceasefire the “bare minimum.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden have called for “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza.

“The people of Gaza do not need a temporary ceasefire to fill their bellies,” Zeid said. “It’s like asking somebody what their last supper would like to be before they get executed.”

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza reports more than 9,440 Palestinians have died in the war with Israel, which was triggered by the group’s incursion into that country on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 200 taken back into Gaza as hostages.

Israel immediately declared war in response and has launched daily attacks since then, stepping up bombardments over the past week and triggering growing global alarm about the lack of food, fuel and other basic supplies for Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million residents.

Manitoba’s Palestinian association planned a car rally — succeeding the Portage and Main gathering — to pass by local MPs’ offices and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Saleha Komal attended the demonstration Saturday because “us as humans need to gather collectively to raise our voices.”

She hopes for a state where all Jews, Muslims and Christians can live in peace, she added.

Rubin Kantorovich, who is Jewish, attended the rally to “support Palestinian rights.”

German Aburto, from Chile, felt he needed to show his support for Palestinians.

Hamas has been considered a terrorist organization by the Canadian federal government since 2002.

— with files from the Canadian Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com