Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to the streets to take part in one of the many demonstrations in solidarity with the Iranian people held on Saturday at the call of the Association of Families of the Victims of Flight PS752.
Posted 1:22pm Updated 6:36pm
Adina Bresge and Laura Osman The Canadian Press
While Trudeau has touted the government’s new sanctions against the Iranian regime, protesters have called for even tougher measures.
Lines of protesters took part in human chains organized in 10 Canadian cities including Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.
Organizers said the protests were a show of solidarity with the people of Iran who are protesting their country’s regime over the death of Mahsa Amini while she was in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police in September, allegedly for breaking the strict Islamic dress code should have violated for women.
In Ottawa, hundreds of protesters stamped their feet and chanted Amini’s name in front of the National Gallery of Canada.
The Prime Minister, his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and several elected Liberals were warmly applauded upon their arrival. However, some protesters shouted slogans calling on Canada to take action against the Iranian regime.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
A protester waves her fist during a demonstration to overthrow the Iranian regime on the Alexandra Bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau on Saturday.
Trudeau said his administration imposed unprecedented sanctions on the regime. Several Iranian figures are barred from entering the country.
“We know that there are people in Canada who have benefited from this terrible and corrupt regime and who are hiding in this beautiful community,” the Prime Minister said. You’re using Canadian freedoms, Canadian opportunities. They use the stolen wealth to settle in Canada. We say no more. »
The crowd responded to this declaration with cheers and chants of “bust them out”.
Mr Trudeau pledged that the government will ensure Canada never becomes a haven for “the assassins, the murderers and those responsible for the oppression” of which the Iranians are the victims.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the rally.
After his speech, he led the march that took protesters to the Alexandra Bridge, which connects Ottawa to Gatineau.
The demonstrators shoulder to shoulder across the half kilometer long bridge. Everyone, including Mr. Trudeau, chanted “Justice in Iran” and “Stop the killings in Iran.”
The Canadian government has sanctioned the Iranian regime, namely 48 nationals and 16 entities “in connection with gross and systematic human rights abuses, serious and persistent damage to international peace and security and Iran’s continued activities of state-sponsored disinformation”. All members of the approximately 10,000 Revolutionary Guards can no longer enter Canada.
But Amirali Alavi, one of the organizers of the demonstration in Toronto, does not go far enough. He wants the Iranian ambassador expelled.
“We are here to ask our government and Canada to be on the right side of history,” he said. We must stop negotiating with the regime in Iran while the people are fighting in the streets. »
In Toronto, protesters lined sections of Younge Street chanting “Women, Life, Freedom” and “Say her name: Mahsa Amini,” the woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s Deputy Police Force in September for allegedly violating the strictures Islamic dress code for women. Motorists supported the protesters by honking their horns at various intersections.
Several protesters held up photos of relatives who were among the 176 people killed on January 8, 2020 when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Guards shot down a Ukrainian airliner.
Arash Morattab, who lost his brother and sister-in-law in the air tragedy, said the families of Flight 752 victims share the cause of the protest movement that has plagued Iran for more than a month.
“We are all victims of a regime that started killing people immediately after it was established and continues to do so,” she said. The regime killed our loved ones in January 2020. Today they kill other people fighting for their rights. »
Sara Ahmadi, whose husband was killed, says the fight for justice is particularly sensitive for all Iranian women who continue to be denied their freedom. She herself says that she had problems with the regime because she was not legally married to her spouse.
“Women have no rights in my country. It’s not just about the hijab, it’s about everything. »
At least 270 people have been killed since the protest movement began, which swept through 125 Iranian cities. According to the Human Rights Activists group, law enforcement arrested 14,000 people.