(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemns slogans heard during a demonstration Saturday on Parliament Hill, during which a participant openly welcomed the violent attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7.
Mr. Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre both say such comments are unacceptable.
At Saturday’s demonstration, which took place more than six months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, there were the usual Palestinian flags and signs calling for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
But in a video posted online, a man is heard praising the October 7 attack by Hamas and its affiliated groups, which killed 1,200 people in Israel.
In a message on the social network X on Sunday, Mr. Trudeau described certain speeches as “unacceptable” and “hateful intimidation”.
Ottawa police did not immediately respond when asked if they were investigating the protest.
“Our resistance attacks are proof that we are almost free,” one man can be heard saying in the video of the demonstration. October 7 is proof that we are almost free. Long live October 7, long live the resistance, long live the Intifada, long live all forms of resistance. »
The prime minister wrote on Sunday that there was “a difference between peaceful protests and hateful intimidation.”
“It is unacceptable to glorify the acts of anti-Semitic violence, including the murders, that Hamas committed on October 7. This kind of speech has no place in Canada. Absolutely not,” said Mr. Trudeau.
Mr. Poilievre also denounced the “malicious” messages observed on Saturday. “I condemn these progenocidal anti-Semitic chants,” declared the conservative leader.