Large pro-Palestinian crowd stages sit-in at legislature in Canada’s Alberta province

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – A large crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters staged a sit-in Wednesday at the legislature in the Canadian province of Alberta, while a lawmaker called for an end to the “butchery” in the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration at the legislature in Alberta’s capital of Edmonton was organized by a local Palestinian group which put together the protest in 48 hours.

Demonstrators could be heard chanting “Free Palestine” and the local Palestinian cultural association said that Edmontonians have lost dozens of family members in the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

“The local community again, as I said, they’re really, really being affected,” Mousa Qasqas, vice president of the Canada Palestine Cultural Association, told Global News at the event at the legislature.

Meanwhile, several Liberal members of parliament (MPs) called Wednesday for an end to the hostilities and some demanded a cease-fire.

MP Sameer Zuberi, who represents Montreal federally, made an emotional plea to stop the “butchery” in the Gaza Strip. He said Palestinian deaths had surged past 4,000.

“That’s because of bombardments that are falling on the heads of babies, of elderly seniors, of women and children, boys and girls and, yes, innocent adults who are both men and women,” Zuberi told The National Post newspaper as he was on the way to a Liberal meeting in Ottawa.

Fellow Liberal MP Shafqat Ali, who represents the Brampton city area, said a “cease-fire must be called.”

Two other Toronto-area MPs echoed Ali’s words.

The Wednesday sit-in at the Alberta legislature was sizeable but smaller than a protest by thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who crowded the downtown streets of Toronto on Tuesday night.