Demanding an immediate ceasefire, thousands of people again demonstrated in the streets of downtown Montreal on Saturday in support of Palestine.
Speakers warmed up the crowd which gathered little by little in Dorchester Square despite the cold weather which contrasted with the last few days. Around 10,000 people were expected by the authorities.
“We need to show our government that people continue to support Palestine,” said Rand, a health care worker of Palestinian origin who testified that she lost several members of her family in the bombings of the gang. Gaza.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Then the crowd took to the street around 3:30 p.m., first following Boulevard Renée-Lévesque then Rue Sainte-Catherine, surrounded by numerous police officers on bicycles and on horseback.
For many of them, Justin Trudeau’s position of not demanding a ceasefire is a source of motivation to come and demonstrate, more than a month after the start of the conflict in Israel, explains a representative of Palestinian Youth Movement, the association behind the organization of this event, Sarah Shamy.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The latter is also delighted to note that the mobilization seems to be continuing. “It’s not slowing down and we’re seeing different forms of pressure,” she said, citing the blocking of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge earlier this week as “proof that we are ready to take all means to put pressure on pressure on our governments.”
Palestinian Youth Movement is inviting its supporters to a major national rally in Ottawa next Saturday, an event that Sarah Shamy foresees as “the largest demonstration in support of Palestine in Canadian history.”