A man waves a Palestinian flag outside the Kelowna courthouse during the rally.
(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)
November 13, 2023 - 9:00 AM
Hundreds of people rallied outside the Kelowna courthouse yesterday to call for a cease-fire in Palestine.
A non-profit, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East Okanagan, organized a vigil for Palestinian children killed in the conflict. Roughly 250 people gathered around the courthouse steps to listen to speeches from Canadian and Palestinian voices, and sign petitions asking politicians to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
The ongoing war in Gaza is a conflict between Israel, Hamas, and Palestine. Now six weeks into the conflict, approximately 1,200 Israelis have been killed, and more than 11,200 Palestinian civilians have been killed.
READ MORE: Okanagan coming together against the Israeli-Palestinian war
Haneen, a Palestinian studying here in Kelowna, was part of a group of students who compiled a list of every civilian casualty in Palestine between the start of the war Oct. 7 and Oct. 26.
The scroll of the names of civilian casualties compiled by UBCO students rolled down the courthouse steps.
(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)
While Hanaan addressed the crowd, another student rolled out the printed list of names. In 12 point font in five columns, it ran the length of the courthouse steps.
“I realized I was looking at my grandmother’s last name. I checked and went through the list and there were 46 members of her family. So I went to look for my mother’s last name, and there were 51 names from her family. There are 97 names on this list of people I should have met at a family gathering or at a wedding,” Hanaan said to the crowd.
After a series of speeches, the rally walked from the courthouse to City Park chanting “free Palestine.”
Protesters in City Park chanting "free Palestine."
(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)
Find out more about Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East here.
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