Rally outside Saskatoon city hall Saturday draws attention to violence in Afghanistan
CBC
More than 100 people gathered outside Saskatoon's city hall late Saturday afternoon to make a rallying call for action to stop what they've called the genocide of the ethnic Hazara people in Afghanistan.
"I have family in Afghanistan [and] I think they are not safe," Anwar Asayee, one of the organizers, said.
"We want to be the voice of Hazara people around the world."
Those voices in Saskatoon have joined others in Canada following a suicide bombing at a Shia educational centre in a Hazara neighbourhood in Kabul on Sept. 30.
Asayee said the Saskatoon rally, organized by the Afghan community, joins the call from others across Canada who want the United Nations to recognize the killings of Hazara people as genocide.
The Hazara people are an ethnic minority group in Afghanistan, predominantly Shia Muslims, who have been targeted in the region.
The bombing killed or wounded dozens of people.
"One of my previous students was killed and one of my friend's daughters was killed in this incident," Asayee said.
Asayee said through a translator that the rally was meant to be the voice of Hazara Afghans who have been persecuted since the 1800s.
Nila Ibrahimi, an attendee, said she was shocked and angry when she first heard about the suicide bombings.
"This is not the first, this is a continued series of explosions that are taking place in Afghanistan, just for Hazaras," she said.
"My brother was once in one of these explosions and I know how bad it feels," she said.
Ibrahimi said attending the rally is her way of supporting her country while in Canada, including supporting her friends and relatives back home.
"I was feeling helpless because I'm continents away from my country and I can just do nothing for them," she said. "I'm afraid for their safety because I don't know when the next explosion happens."