'Say no to hate': Hundreds at Toronto rally decry racial violence in Charlottesville attack - Action News
Home WebMail Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 07:39 AM | Calgary | -0.1°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Toronto

'Say no to hate': Hundreds at Toronto rally decry racial violence in Charlottesville attack

More than a hundred people gathered outside Toronto's U.S. consulate on Monday morning with signs to decry the violent attack in Charlottesville, Va., that left a woman dead and nearly 20 injured, at a counter-protest to a white nationalist rally.

Demonstrators, many American citizens, gathered at the U.S. Consulate Monday to protest white supremacists

Hundreds of people gathered outside the American consulate in downtown Toronto on Monday morning to decry white nationalism in Virginia and show racial-fuelled violence has no place in their city. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

More than a hundred people gathered outside Toronto's U.S. consulate on Monday morning with signs to decry the violent attack in Charlottesville, Va., that left a woman dead and nearly 20 injured, at a counter-protest to a white nationalist rally.

People protest against the white supremacist movement and racism outside the United States consulate in Toronto on Monday morning. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

People held signs and chanted phrases condemning racism as they stood opposite the American consulate downtown to express their opposition to what has been described as one of the largest supremacist rallies in recent U.S. history.

"No hate, no fear. Fascists aren't welcomed here," members of the group chanted at one point.

More than a hundred people gathered outside Toronto's U.S. consulate on Monday morning with signs to decry the violent attack in Charlottesville, Va., that left a woman dead and nearly 20 injured, at a counter-protest to a white nationalist rally. (CBC)

On Saturday, Heather Heyer, 32, was in Charlottesville, Va., with her friends to take a stand against white supremacists, authorities say, when she was killed by a greysports carthat rammed full speed into a line of counter-protesters.

James Alex Fields, 20, of Ohio,remainsin custody on suspicion of second-degree murder,three counts of malicious wounding and a single count of leavingthe scene of a fatal accident. The U.S. JusticeDepartment pressed its own federal hate-crime investigation ofthe incident.

A makeshift memorial for Heather Heyer, 32, whose death punctuated an ugly scene in Charlottesville, Va. (Steve Helber/Associated Press)

The fatal disturbance began with neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) sympathizers protesting against plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, the commander of rebel forces during the U.S. Civil War, inthe Virginia college town. It erupted into violence.

'We needed to say something'

In Toronto, protesters flew the American flag upside down, while one woman distributedT-shirtswith the slogan"Toronto loves everybody" as an act of togetherness.

A woman sells T-shirts saying "Toronto loves everybody" at Monday's U.S. consulate rally in solidarity with the victims of the Charlottesville, Va., attack. (CBC)

Donna Gabaccia,a professor of history at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus and organizer of the demonstration, told CBC Toronto many demonstrators are U.S. citizens who are voicing their dissent.

"We felt as U.S. citizens and as opponents of racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, Islamophobiawe needed to say something and we thought the consulate was the appropriate place since the consulate is the public face of the U.S. in Toronto," she said.

While Donna Gabaccia is a U.S. citizen living in Canada. The historian says taking to the streets is her way to stand up against racism. (CBC)

Jesse-Blue Forrest, who lives in Toronto but is from a community near Charlottesville, said he came out to the rally to let people know that violence is not the norm in the American city. At the same time, this past weekend's events didn't just happen spontaneously, he said.

"It's been brewing for a long time," Forrest said. "I really do not want to see that cancer in the United States spreading here in Canada."

A vigil was held in Toronto Sunday night to remember the victims.

With files from Natalie Nanowski and the Canadian Press