Demonstration in Montreal in support of Ukraine | “The war continues”

Several hundred people gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday to protest against the “war crimes” committed in Ukraine, where civilians are the target of bombardments “every day”.

Florence Morin Martel
The Press

“I can’t say how I feel, it’s too much,” breathes Lisa Horbunova, a protester who arrived in Canada on Friday, after first taking refuge in Romania by fleeing Kyiv. At the head of the procession in support of Ukraine, she walks alongside her sister Vira Seletska, who has lived in Canada for seven years. “I’m relieved for her,” said M.^me Seletska, who had been trying to bring Lisa to the country since the start of the war. But for Ukraine, I will only be able to breathe when it is over. »

Several hundred demonstrators gathered on Saturday at the corner of Peel Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard to express their solidarity with the Ukrainian people. In the streets of downtown Montreal, protesters of all ages chanted “Glory to Ukraine!” “, Arrest Putin” and “Ukrainian children deserve to live”, under the attentive gaze of passers-by.

At 24^and day of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, a demonstrator of Ukrainian origin, Anastasia Kalyuzhna, who has lived in Canada for six years, fears that the conflict will be forgotten. “The war continues,” she said, walking with her dog dressed in a Ukrainian flag. Her uncles, aunts and friends who are in Kyiv are “alive, but they are not safe”, laments the young woman with cheeks painted in blue and yellow.

Before marching, the demonstrators were invited to observe a minute of silence, at the request of the organizer of the event Michael Shwec, president of the Quebec Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The man then sounded the sound of anti-bombing warning sirens, in support of “Ukrainians who have been hearing this every day for a month”.

“Hold the flag high, so our brothers and sisters can see it all the way to Ukraine, across the ocean,” says Michael Shwec, looking at the serious faces in the crowd and the watery eyes of some of the protesters.

Attacks “everywhere” in Ukraine

Michael Shwec denounces the “war crimes” committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. “They are bombing hospitals, maternity wards and schools,” he told AFP. The Press. Born in Montreal, the man of Ukrainian origin says he has cousins, uncles and aunts who still live in Lviv, in the west of the country. “It’s a country close to our hearts,” he sums up.

A demonstrator, Nadiya Kazlova, said she was upset by the shelling outside Lviv on Friday. Until then spared, the city located near the Polish border is a real refuge for Ukrainians from other regions.

The attacks “are everywhere”, breath M^me Kazlova, who arrived in Canada in 1998. Several of her nephews are fighting in the Ukrainian army, she says. “It’s very painful,” she sobbed, placing her hand against his chest.