"Seeing these people chanting what I was hearing from those who were beating me on the streets of Tehran is  traumatizing."

"The real people of Iran [are not among them because they know] government is manipulating their ideologies and their beliefs and their unity." 

Ghazal Shokri, Iranian Canadian 

 

"[These events in Canada are] essentially an IRGC rally to spread its violent ideology. [Canada can no longer] tolerate any further escalation of radicalization or risks to our national security." 

"Canadian leaders should denounce Al Quds Day as a terrorist threat."

"We urge law enforcement and governments to make use of every tool available to uphold public safety and take decisive measures to confront this growing danger: arrest and prosecute extremists inciting violence, remove Iranian regime-linked individuals from the country and prevent further infiltration and criminalize the wilful promotion of terrorism." 

Noah Shack, CEO, president, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

The Al Quds Day protest outside the courthouse at 361 University Avenue in downtown Toronto in March 2019. This year's event is set for Saturday, March 14. Photo by Jack Boland /Toronto Sun/Postmedia

 

A horrified world was witness in January to Iranian citizens gathering by the tens of thousands in cities all across Iran to condemn and demand the end of the Islamic Republic which has, since 1979, dominated and persecuted its own population, while forming, training, arming and commanding proxy terrorist groups throughout the Middle East with a focus on Shiite domination in a Sunni-Muslim majority region. Its often-stated designs to obliterate Israel 'from the map of the Middle East' and its fear-mongering threats of nuclear designs and ballistic missiles have led to escalating international attacks.

 

The regime's response was swift and deadly, tasking its Basij police linked to the Islamic Republican Guard Corps to use all means and methods to strike down the protesters. Tens of thousands of Iranian civilians were wounded, more were imprisoned and subjected to torture, while an estimated 30,000 Iranian protesters were killed, before the protests were put to a halt. This mass atrocity was addressed by the United Nations Human Rights Council which urged "full respect for the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran".  

"This is promotion of terrorism in our streets."

"We are  calling on all of those who are speaking out today and beyond, to actually make sure that sort of thing and Al Quds Day specifically, is shut down, and is not allowed to take place in Toronto, or anywhere in this country, because hateful words, hateful demonstrations turn into this kind of violent attack, and we need to end it now."

Sara Lefton, CJA Federation of Greater Toronto  

CJA

 

And while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is recognized for what it is, a listed terrorist group banned in Canada, an event established by the Iranian regime that takes place annually at the end of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, Al-Quds Day (Arabic name for Jerusalem opposing Israel's 'occupation' of its own hereditary city of ancient Judean origins) is celebrated on the streets of Toronto and elsewhere in Canada, as it is wherever Muslim extremists are, led by the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood and the IRGC in Western countries.

 

These are events taking place globally which call for the destruction of Israel and the death of Israelis in support of the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps agenda. The U.K. government this week approved the London Metropolitan Police request to ban the event, citing a risk of "severe public disorder". In place of the march, organizers will now resort to a static protest in Britain. A change of tactics, while the message and the threats that accompany the event remain. 

 

Earlier in the week a statement was issued for the city's legal department "to seek an injunction to stop this hate gathering" scheduled to take place in front of the U.S. consulate on Saturday, on the part of Toronto Coun. James Pasternak who urged governments and law enforcement agencies to act on infractions of the Canadian Criminal Code, Toronto's own hate rallies policy and bylaws: "I know hate when I see it and the Al Quds day march is NOT Charter protected", wrote Mr. Pasternak. 

"[The annual event is not "a neutral protest", but a "foreign interference in Canadian affairs."

"I think I, and a lot of other Iranian Canadians, view it as a show of force by the Islamic regime in Canada."

"And I think it's intended to send a message to the Canadian community as a whole, but particularly Iranian Canadians, about the power that Iran's regime can exercise even outside the country."

"I think, as you can see on your television, as you have seen in the past couple of months, Iranians, both in that country and outside of it, want democracy, they want human rights, they want equality and they denounce violence of every kind."

Iranian Canadian Kaveh Shahrooz, lawyer, human rights activist, fellow, McDonald Laurier Institute