Leaders condemn ‘hateful rhetoric’ at B.C. pro-Palestinian protest on Oct. 7
By Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press on October 8, 2024.
People write in chalk outside of a building during a pro-Palestine rally marking the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan CairnsVANCOUVER – Political leaders are condemning what they describe as “hateful rhetoric” from a speaker at a pro-Palestinian rally in Vancouver who told the crowd that “we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.”
Both groups are listed by Public Safety Canada as terrorist entities.
In videos circulated online, the unidentified masked woman led a crowd of hundreds at the Vancouver Art Gallery Monday night in chants of “death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel,” while some in the group burned Canadian flags.
The protest was organized by the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun and held on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people while triggering a war that has left about 41,000 dead in Gaza.
On social media platform X, British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby responded to a post describing the speech, saying “this kind of hateful rhetoric is wrong and has no place in our province.”
B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad said in a statement that the behaviour is “completely unacceptable,” while federal Conservatives Leader Pierre Poilievre vowed to list Samidoun as a terrorist entity if his party forms the next Canadian government.
“We’ve seen what happens when these groups aren’t taken seriously,” Poilievre’s statement said.
Rustad, whose provincial Conservatives are in a contest with Eby’s NDP in the upcoming B.C. election on Oct. 19, says in his video statement that his party would “crack down on this type of hate” if elected.
Eby says in his social media post that the province’s people “stand together against violence – and the glorification of it. And we strive for peace.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
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These are criminal code violations. How many were charged? It is time they have their citizenship revoked and them and the radical visitors are deported!
Send them to Lebanon where they can be with their people since they disrepest our country, our flag and just like their terrorist brothers and sisters, call for our deaths! Where is our great leader? Flying around the world for yet another meeting where he has already sold out our country’s sovereignty in areas in this trade deal.
Trudeau spends more time on him plane than in Parliament. What are his green house gas emissions per year, since he always flies with his entourage. He wants all of us peons to cutback, yet he is one of the biggest emitters of any sole Canadian, as he destroys our country and bankrupts it!