Waving flags and shouting for freedom, a group of people from various ethnic and professional backgrounds made their way through Guelph’s streets on Saturday afternoon in a show of support for the people of Palestine.
Dozens of people in about 15 vehicles took part in a car rally which started at the Muslim Society of Guelph parking lot on Water Street and made its way around the area, heading south on Edinburgh Road, turning west onto Kortright Road, going north on Scottsdale Drive and travelling east on Stone Road to the Canadian Tire parking lot.
“It is being held to maintain the momentum of both the local and worldwide solidarity rallies begun in the month of May 2021 for the families living in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in Jerusalem, and now Silwan,” states a news release from the group, known as The Return of Palestine Association. “In both aforementioned communities, residents’ homes, despite a recent ceasefire, continue being demolished and even more families are being forcefully removed from their homes.”
The group is calling on the Canadian federal government to condemn those actions and stop what it calls the “ethnic cleansing” of Sheikh Jarrah and the Silwan neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, as well as hold the state of Israel accountable to international laws and stop support/funding of the Israeli military.
