Vancouver demonstration part of Canada-wide action to support Palestine

Hundreds of people gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery Saturday to be part of a Canada-wide pro-Palestine demonstration.

The 100k March for Gaza happened in several cities across Canada, including Vancouver, to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It’s expected to make history as one of Canada’s largest Palestine solidarity mobilizations.

Dona, an attendee at the Vancouver rally, says she showed up to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

On her protest sign, a picture of a watermelon featured prominently. Dona says it’s a symbol of resistance that many people are bringing to these rallies, because it contains the same colours as the Palestinian flag.

“I thought it was a very creative solution to resist,” she said.

Dona says she’s joining the call for an end to the war in the Middle East and wishes people would have more empathy for everyone affected by the overseas conflict. She says supporting Palestinians shouldn’t be conflated with not supporting the Jewish Community.

“To show solidarity and support for Palestinians doesn’t mean I don’t have empathy for Jewish people,” she said.

Nasser Najjar attended the rally to stand with his family in Gaza. He says he starts every morning by checking his family WhatsApp groupchat to see if he has any texts from family members.

“Thank goodness, up until this moment, I have received texts from them to say ‘we’re alive,'” he said.

Then, he checks Facebook to see how many friends he may have lost overnight, he says. He’s lost 11 during the war so far.

“I lost my house, I lost my family house, I hope we don’t lose our humanity,” he said.

Friday evening, a large pro-Palestine demonstration was seen in Surrey, causing some significant traffic delays along King George Boulevard. Mounties Say at least 600 -700 people joined the march in Surrey Friday.

A car drove through a different Palestine solidarity rally that closed off a major intersection in Vancouver for an hour Friday morning. Police say they’re investigating that incident.

Hundreds of Canadians stuck in Gaza could leave this weekend

Global Affairs Canada is telling hundreds of Canadians registered in Gaza they could be allowed to leave as soon as tomorrow. An email sent to those who registered with Global Affairs says individuals will be contacted with specific departure dates approved by officials in Israel and Egypt.

Canada’s Defense Minister Bill Blair says talks are ongoing to have those windows open as soon as possible.

“We have placed a priority and it has been acknowledged by the Israeli authorities. We’re working very closely with them and we hope to get Canadians to safety in the very near future.”

Once Canadians arrive in Egypt, they’ll have 72 hours to leave there, though the government says flights home will be each person’s individual responsibility.

This comes days after other foreign nationals were able to exit the region through the Rafa border crossing to Egypt — Canada has so far been excluded from that list.

-With files from David Nadalini, Sofia Vavaroutsos and CityNews Staff