Pro-Palestinian march part of global protest against Israel’s invasion of Gaza

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A sea of boisterous pro-Palestinian protesters marched through downtown Ottawa late Saturday afternoon, marking what one speaker called the “horrific milestone” of the anniversary of Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the Hamas killing of about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.

As part of a co-ordinated global demonstration of pro-Palestinian support, a slow, but spirited procession that filled several city blocks left Parliament Hill around 4 p.m. Participants chanted slogans to pounding drumbeats while waving the flags of Palestine, Lebanon and participating groups such as Unifor, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Communist Party of Canada and Jews Against Genocide.

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Ushered by Ottawa Police Service officers, protesters headed from Parliament Hill down Rideau Street before entering the ByWard Market from Dalhousie Street. Their 90-minute demonstration included a stop outside the United States Embassy on Sussex Drive before looping back to the Hill.

At the head of the procession, two protesters carried grim props — “body bags” — wrapped respectively in the flags of Palestine and Lebanon.

“From Gaza to Beirut, all our martyrs we salute,” protesters chanted.

The march, which was preceded by speeches on Parliament Hill, was one of nearly 60 pro-Palestinian demonstrations held around the world to mark what protesters called a year of “genocide” in the Gaza.

Israel invaded Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in which the militant group Hamas entered Israel and killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 250 others hostage. It was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Israel’s retaliation has killed almost 41,000 Palestinians, including 16,500 children. The latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the Palestinian government say Israeli attacks have also damaged more than half of Gaza’s homes, 80 per cent of its commercial facilities and 85 per cent of its schools.

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Meanwhile, since last October, the armed group Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets into Israel from Lebanon.

In recent days, Israel has begun air strikes in Lebanon in response. Lebanon’s Health Ministry has announced that more than 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in that country, including 127 children and 261 women.

Iran has also launched missiles against Israel.

Protesters and speakers in Ottawa on Saturday called on Canada’s government and the country’s universities to denounce Israel’s actions and to take steps in an effort to quell it.

“Trudeau, Trudeau, shame on you, you are killing children, too,” the marchers chanted.

One speaker told protesters that, with Canada’s next federal election looming, they must raise the war in the Middle East with MPs and demand that they support an arms embargo against Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Before the march began, speakers told the protesters they might meet with “instigators” seeking conflict. “We do not engage with these instigators,” one speaker said.

The march was free of conflict until nearly its very end, when words were exchanged on Wellington Street between some pro-Palestinian protesters and several associates of a man wearing a red “Save Canada” ballcap who were recording videos of the protest with their phones. Ottawa Police Service officers got between the two groups and the situation de-escalated.

The protest ended with a mass prayer on Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill.

Ottawa’s Jewish community and its supporters are to gather Sunday to commemorate the Oct. 7 massacre and to demand the release of hostages in Gaza.

phum@postmedia.com

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