Dozens of antiwar protesters who occupied the lobby of the Confederation Building in Ottawa to call for an arms embargo on Israel have now been ejected.
The demonstration started around 8:45 a.m. The protesters said they would allow MPs with offices in the building to pass through the crowd, but those MPs would have to listen to the demonstrators’ demands on the way in.
Officers of the Parliamentary Protection Service (PPS) and Ottawa Police were on the scene, asking people if they had any business inside the building before letting them in.
By 10 a.m., protesters removed from the building were chanting outside. Police and PPS members intercepted and then released 14 protesters without charges.
“All of the individuals were released unconditionally, however they were issued Trespass to Property notices on Parliament Hill by PPS,” Ottawa Police said in a media statement.
According to a statement issued by the protesters, the group is made up of more than a hundred Jewish Canadians and Palestinian supporters.
“Our politicians cannot be complacent in these marble hallways while Israel continues to burn Palestinians alive in their tents,” said Niall Ricardo, one of the organizers of Tuesday’s action.
The group said in a media statement that it wants the Canadian government “to admit its role in arming Israel and stop hiding Canada’s complicity” in the war in Gaza.
The group also wants Canada to impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel, and cancell all active military export permits to the country.
The protesters want Canada to halt any weapons exports to the United States that may be funnelled to Israel, and to end the import of military goods and technology from Israel.
“The warplanes and attack helicopters raining destruction on civilians could not fly without hundreds of Canadian-made components,” Ricardo said.
“Canada’s ongoing arms exports and diplomatic support make it complicit in these atrocities.”