Vigil in solidarity with Palestine held by UQAM students

Students of Université du Québec à Montréal and members of the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UQAM (SPHR-UQAM) organized a vigil in solidarity with Palestine, on Jan. 29, 2024,.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has bombarded Palestine, which has killed over 30 thousand Palestinians children, individuals, women and men.

The students and members also took some time to commemorate the victims of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City shooting that took place in 2017. In January 2017, fire was opened on worshippers in the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City. Six people died, and five were wounded.

Around twenty people occupied the Judith-Jasmin Agora and addressed passersby, stating that Canada is complicit in the deaths of Palestinians in Palestine, as well as Muslims across the globe and specifically in Quebec.

They also denounced Canada for putting profit over people, specifically after it cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

In January, Israel accused 12 employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of being involved in the Oct. 7 Al Aqsa Flood. Nine countries, including Canada, have cut funding to the UNRWA since these allegations were made. The UNRWA says it could run out of funding for Gaza in a month.

Organizers invited people to donate money to Palestine, as well as write letters to Canadian officials to urge them to call for a permanent ceasefire.

Attendees also expressed their disappointment in Canadian media outlets inciting Islamophobia through the language they use in their coverage, and the demonization of Palestinians and Muslim communities.

In discussing both issues, speakers brought attention to the rise in Islamophobic sentiments and anti-Palestinian racism across the world: “It is important to read the names of the victims and to remember them. These are people, these are human beings who were supposed to live long lives but had them cut short due to hate. Hate that should be prevented. Hate should be prevented,” said K, an organizer at SPHR-UQAM.