’We’re out right here the place we’re extra seen than we had been within the earlier weeks, demanding the identical factor we have been demanding this entire time — an finish to the genocide in Gaza’
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Regardless of a warning from the Calgary Police Service, a pro-Palestine protest went forward in Calgary’s Beltline on Sunday afternoon.
Roughly 1,000 protesters gathered at Tomkins Park, positioned in a busy business space on seventeenth Avenue and eighth Avenue S.W., demonstrating towards Israel’s continued assaults in Gaza. It’s a shift from the placement out entrance of Calgary metropolis corridor, the place pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protesters have staged opposing demonstrations concerning the Center Jap battle since violence broke out after a Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7.
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Police Chief Mark Neufeld issued a letter Saturday warning that the brand new website was “not appropriate” for the demonstration as a result of anticipated crowd dimension and the potential disruption to companies and buyers. He stated officers current would strictly implement any legal guidelines concerning disruption of site visitors or important infrastructure.
Greater than a dozen officers had been on scene Sunday, together with mounted patrols and several other stationed upon close by rooftops.
Protest organizer Wesam Cooley, who additionally goes by the identify Wesam Khalid, instructed the gang at Tomkins Park that he was “shocked” by the chief’s weekend warning. He stated he and different members of the Justice for Palestinians advocacy group had been at Calgary Police Service headquarters on Friday, discussing how to make sure the occasion went forward safely.
“We’ve had an extended dialogue with them, and we’ve been speaking with them week after week after week,” Cooley stated, criticizing Neufeld’s declare there was a “breakdown in communication” with the group. He added that police try to color the pro-Palestine demonstrations as “unreasonable and antagonistic.”
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“We’re being totally affordable. What we’ve seen taking place in Gaza — the truth that we’re simply doing lawful demonstrations exhibits how affordable we’re,” he stated.
The group marched as deliberate however stayed on the sidewalk, quickly blocking intersections as they moved west alongside seventeenth Avenue S.W., earlier than turning again towards the park. In current demonstrations at metropolis corridor, officers have arrested protesters for blocking site visitors within the downtown core, however protesters have claimed police used extreme power.
In keeping with the Gaza Well being Ministry, near 18,000 Palestinians have died within the battle since Hamas’s Oct. 7 raid of southern Israel that noticed 1,200 Israelis killed and 240 taken hostage.
Cooley stated his group’s goal continues to be to stress native and nationwide politicians to name for a ceasefire.
“We’ve been calling for an finish to this genocide, which has been occurring shamefully,” stated Cooley. “We haven’t had a ceasefire name but from the mayor (Jyoti Gondek); we haven’t had a ceasefire name but from (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau. So, we’re out right here the place we’re extra seen than we had been within the earlier weeks, demanding the identical factor we’ve been demanding this entire time — an finish to the genocide in Gaza.”
The protest is anticipated to return to Tomkins Park subsequent weekend.
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