Toronto vigil held in memory of Iranian General Assassinated by the US
(Photo credits: The Canada Files/Esé)
Written by: Esé
What started as a vigil soon turned into a protest with anti-American chants and slogans.
Hundreds of people attended the vigil against the United States’ assassination of top Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, in front of Toronto’s only courthouse on Saturday.
Men, women and children lit candles, swayed flags and carried placards in protest of Soleimani’s assassination.
“They assassinated him because he was the only person that no one could defeat that stand up for our country,” said Tara Darash, one of the participants of the vigil. “We're really upset that our hero is gone and we will never surrender until we bring justice to him.”
What was intended to be a “Candlelight Vigil,” soon turned into a protest with chants and slogans such as “Down with USA” “Shame shame USA" and "Trump is a terrorist."
"[The US assasinating Soleimani] was a really bad decision...he was there for the peace, he was there for fighting against the terrorism and they killed him so it's not a fight against terrorism the USA is portraying," said Amna Nasir, one of the protestors at the vigil.
A small opposition of less than 10 people also arrived on site with placards reading “have one wife, not four” among other anti-Islamic phrases and chants. Police were on site to ensure the event ran safely.
Despite claims by US President Donald Trump that Soleimani was the “number one terrorist in the world,” protests and vigils have spread across the globe to condemn his assassination. Aside from Canada, condemnation statements, protests and vigils have erupted with masses of people in the UK, US, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kashmir, Australia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
London, UK vigil in mourning of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
On Friday, the US Department of Defense released a statement claiming that General Soleimani’s assassination was committed as an act of defense. However, U.S Democratic congressional leaders issued statements condemning U.S President Donald Trump’s ordered strikes, saying it was conducted without congressional approval.
Soleimani was the commander of the Quds force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed by US airstrikes outside of Baghdad airport in Iraq on Friday.
He supervised the decisive stages of Iran-backed operations against Daesh in Iraq, also known as the Islamic State, which lost all its territories it had seized in Iraq and Syria in late 2017. He had also assisted the Baghdad government in retrieving the oil-rich city of Tikrit in 2015.
"We are united and we'll face you [US President Trump], don't think that Muslims are separate," said Nasir.