Human rights head urging decision makers to respect student rights in pro-Palestinian demonstrations
B.C.’s human rights commissioner says she is once again concerned that people speaking out in solidarity with Gaza are being penalized, as pro-Palestinian encampments arise on post-secondary campuses.
The protests are in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which came after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. The Health Ministry in Gaza says Israel has since killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in its response.
Govender said peaceful demonstration allows people to “speak up against injustice and violence, even when such views are controversial.” Elsewhere, however, police and universities have made moves to shut them down. More than 2,100 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested at U.S. college campuses, according to The Associated Press.
Responding to Lee on Monday, B.C. NDP’s Aman Singh, MLA for Richmond-Queensborough, warned against “interfering in places where free expression should have its greatest protections” and conflating “criticism of a state with anti-Semitism.” He also pointed to various government initiatives to combat racism and anti-Semitism, including the introduction of mandatory Holocaust education.
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