Vancouver's peace coalition Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) organized a day of actions and protests for peace in front of the US consulate and the art gallery in Vancouver, Canada, to denounce the US-Saudi unjust aggression on Yemen.
Participants at the protest condemned the governments of Canada, US and UK for their support to the Saudi tyrannical and dictatorial regime and demanded that they stop all arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
Participants also collected signatures to a petition to the Canadian government, headed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, demanding to stop the Canadian arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The arms deal is worth 15 billion dollars for the sale of armored military vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
Speaking t the protest in front of the US Consulate, MAWO's chairperson Alison Bodine emphasized the support of MAWO and all honest and peace loving people in Canada to the Yemeni people against the Saudi aggression and condemned the Saudi led aerial bombardment of civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, highways, buses, weddings and funerals. Alison also denounced the recent Saudi airstrike on a funeral hall in Sana'a, leading to at least 140 people killed and more than 400 wounded.
Brian, from CPCML, spoke at the protest and confirmed that Saudi Arabia's actions in the Middle East are unacceptable and that their policies of supporting terrorism and fueling conflicts and wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen will not go without consequences.
Asaad Aljaboubi , leading Yemeni community organizer with MAWO, confirmed that the Saudi aggression on Yemen, which began in March 2015, is responsible for killing more than 10 thousand people, mostly civilians, children, women, and tens of thousands of injured. Asaad also explained the economic situation in Yemen as a tragic result of the Saudi air, sea and land imposed blockade on the country. This has especially created a crisis of salaries and the forced relocation of the Central Bank from Sana'a to Aden. Also the prohibition of any flights over Yemen has negatively impacted the transfer of injured and wounded patients for treatment outside Yemen and obstructed the return of Yemenis stuck in a number of foreign countries.
In the second part of the day of action for Yemen, participants set up an outreach tent in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The tent included a presentation showing the amount of destruction and atrocities committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen through images, news and brochures in addition to collecting signatures from people passing by to stop the Canadian arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
It is also important to mention that these protests in Vancouver were part of an International Day of Action in Solidarity with Yemen, planned in coordination with several international organizations in Britain, Sweden, Italy, Brussels, the US and Spain. These international organizations, including MAWO, plan to continue having international coordinated events to support the Yemeni people against the Saudi regime's war and aggression.
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