MONTREAL: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched with protesters in the Canadian capital of Ottawa Saturday in support of demonstrations that have swept Iran for more than 40 days.
“The women in Iran, daughters and the grandmothers and the allies... they are not forgotten,” Trudeau said, standing in front of a white banner covered with dozens of red hand prints.
Iran has been gripped by six weeks of protests that erupted when Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody after her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women.
“We will stand with you. I’ll march with you, I will hold hands with you. We will continue to stand with this beautiful community,” Trudeau said, before ending his speech by shouting Persian slogans, his fist raised.
The prime minister’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, also joined the protest, saying, “I stand with you because when one woman’s right is being denied, it is a sign of disrespect for all women.”
“And we will leave no sister behind.”
Trudeau highlighted several rounds of sanctions imposed by the Canadian government against senior Iranian officials over the last month, levied due to the regime’s “gross and systematic human rights violations.”
Amini supporters also attended rallies in other Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, where marchers formed human chains.
And thousands also protested Saturday in Paris and throughout France.
Trudeau joins Canadian demonstrators in support of Iran protests
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Trudeau joins Canadian demonstrators in support of Iran protests
- Demonstrations in solidarity with Iranian protesters also held in various Western capitals
Australian far-right senator censured over ‘inflammatory’ Muslim comments
- The motion called on the Senate to censure Hanson for her “inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people”
SYDNEY: Australia’s Senate on Monday censured far-right lawmaker Pauline Hanson over “inflammatory and divisive” comments she made about Muslim people during a discussion about the possible return of Australian relatives of Daesh militants from Syria.
“They hate Westerners, and that’s what it’s all about. You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?” Hanson said in an interview with Sky News in February.
Penny Wong, leader of Australia’s center-left Labor government in the Senate, moved the censure motion against Hanson, who leads the anti-immigration One Nation party.
The motion called on the Senate to censure Hanson for her “inflammatory and divisive comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.”
It passed with the support of the minor Greens party and two senators from the conservative Liberal party who crossed the floor. “This censure motion is about drawing a line and sending a message to the people of faith in this country and sending a message to children in this country that your leaders believe that condemning an entire religion is not acceptable,” Wong said. Hanson called the motion a “stunt” before storming out of the chamber.
A senator for Queensland, Hanson first rose to prominence in the 1990s because of her strident opposition to immigration from Asia and to
asylum seekers.
Recent opinion polling shows Hanson’s One Nation has overtaken the country’s conservative opposition coalition, with 28 percent of the primary vote amid rising support for anti-immigration policies.
