On April 24, 2024, Samidoun – Vancouver posted on Instagram:
VANCOUVER PROTEST FRIDAY 6PM: HANDS OFF RAFAH! HANDS OFF GAZA! HANDS OFF PALESTINE! 🚨
Join us 6pm this Friday at 800 Robson Plaza and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (known as Robson Square).
***This week the mass action is on Friday night, not Saturday!!***
It’s been over 200 days since the Zionist regime’s 2023/24 genocidal campaign in Gaza began, without pause or interruption, and we are more determined than ever in our fight for justice and liberation.
With the Zionist regime threatening an invasion of Rafah, we must strengthen our resolve and show up to call on our government for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and to end Canadian complicity in this genocide.
We mobilize once again to demand hands off Rafah, Gaza and Palestine—an end to Canadian complicity with an arms embargo, an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to the occupation and for all our prisoners and refugees to return home.
We stand together in the fight for full Palestinian liberation; freedom, sovereignty, and self-determination. Glory to every martyr. Until victory and return. Rain or shine, we’ll see you in the streets.
🕑: 6:00 PM
🗓️: Friday, April 26th
📍: 800 Robson St – Robson Plaza and šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (known as Robson Square).
The demonstration was organized by
- BDS Vancouver
- Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
- Independent Jewish Voices – IJV
- Masar Badil
- Palestinian Youth Movement – PYM
- Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – SPHR
- Canada Palestine Association
- International League of Peoples’ Struggle – ILPS Canada
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – WILPF
Charlotte Kates was one the speakers at the protest. Kates is the founder and international coordinator of the Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and she is also an active member of various organizations including the Canadian BDS Coalition, the US National Lawyers Guild and Al-Awda. the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition.
Here is the transcript of Charlotte Kates’ speech:
We demand a free Palestine from the River to the Sea. And we stand with the Palestinian resistance and their heroic and brave actions on October 7th. As they said, long live October 7th! And we say today: long live October 7th! [Crowd: Long live October 7th!]
They wanted to make… Justin Trudeau denounced that statement, Pierre Poilievre denounced that statement. Every one of these Canadian politicians who could not find one word to denounce the slaughter of 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, who could not find one word to denounce the mass graves of Palestinian doctors, and patients, and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and beloved ones. They could not find one word. But they could find all the words to denounce the beautiful, brave, and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people – which did not begin on October 7th, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued for over 120 years, and which has never stopped fighting for the liberation of Palestine, and is today fighting not only for the liberation of Palestine, but for the defense of humanity against genocide.
And so we must make it clear also that it is long past time to delist Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations from Canada’s so-called list of terrorist entities. Hamas is not a terrorist organization. [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad is not a terrorist organization. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] is not a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization. These are our resistance fighters. These are our heroes.
[…]
They are not terrorists. They are resistance fighters. They are freedom fighters. And they are heroes for a new world.
[…]
So I want all of us to not be silent about the resistance. To not be silent about the armed resistance and to be loud and clear about it, and to say that it is true that October 7th changed the world.
[…]
It showed that Palestine is almost free of Zionism from the River to the Sea.
[…]
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hezbollah – these are not names to be ashamed of. These are not names to be afraid of. These are the names of those who fight and sacrifice for all of us and for a better world.
And so what can we do here? We can camp-in on campus. And we can say that we demand [that] every resistance organization is off the so-called terror list, and that the Zionist regime and the settler-funders here are on it instead. Because everything that we can do is just to live up to the example that the resistance fighters set every day. Yes – with their guns, with their missiles, and with their rockets. But also, with their medicine, with their books, with their love, and with their hope and joy for the future of a liberated Palestine and for the future of humanity – and for one resistance front that stretches from Palestine to Yemen, to Syria, to Iran, to Iraq, to every single one of us that is committed to see the end of Zionism, the end of imperialism, and victory for Palestine. Victory for the resistance.
On May 1, 2024, the Vancouver Police issued the following press release:
VPD investigates alleged hate crime at Art Gallery protest
Vancouver Police have made an arrest and are conducting a criminal investigation to determine whether comments made during a protest last weekend violated hate-crime laws.
“We defend everyone’s right to gather and express their opinions, even when those opinions are unpopular or controversial,” says Sergeant Steve Addison. “We also have a responsibility to ensure public comments don’t promote or incite hatred, encourage violence, or make people feel unsafe. We will continue to thoroughly investigate every hate incident and will pursue criminal charges whenever there is evidence of a hate crime.”
VPD’s Major Crime Section launched an investigation on April 26, after a video was posted on social media showing a woman on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery speaking through a microphone to several hundred protestors. The speaker praised the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and referred to a number of terrorist organizations as heroes.
Portions of the video have been widely shared on social media, and viewed several hundred thousand times.
VPD investigators identified the speaker, and on Monday arrested a 44-year-old Vancouver woman. The suspect has now been released from custody pending further investigation.
Once the investigation is complete, the evidence will be presented to Crown for their assessment.