Montreal Solidarity with Muntadar al-Zeidi (Part 1)

Montreal, December 20, 2008 - About 100 concerned citizens and press corps braved the cold weather today in front of the US consulate in Montreal to show their solidarity with Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi who has not been seen publicly but remains in custody since throwing his shoes at US president George Bush at an Iraqi press conference last week.

The action of solidarity and support involved the throwing of shoes at an effigy of the president placed directly in front of the doors to the US consulate, as one-by-one the shoe-throwing protesters relayed a short message over the megaphone and hurled their footwear.

Recently elected to the Quebec National Assembly as the first incoming member of Quebec Solidaire, community activist and party spokesman Dr. Amir Khadir passed twice in the firing line and both times evoked messages of solidarity and support for al-Zeidi and all the victims of imperial aggression.

The Montreal event was referred to as a celebration of the recent action of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi, by the organizing group and preformed in conjunction with tens of millions around the world, on a day of global solidarity.

The demonstration in Montreal was organized by the local chapter of a group called Block the Empire, and there were just as many shoe-tossing members of the independent media as there were protesters. Equally important to the journalistic solidarity that members of the media showed for al-Zeidi was the call by local anti-war activists to bring attention to the continued opposition to the announced escalation of the US and Canadian occupation of Afghanistan.

Muntadar al-Zeidi has not been seen in public since the incident last week which raises the question of his health and welfare, as well as the concerns that he has been subjected to torture and beatings since he was taken away by security agents of the US and Iraqi governments.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• montreal
• solidarity
• block
• the
• empire
• muntadar
• al-zeidi
• shoe
• throwing
• non-violence
• iraq
• journalist
• freedom

[onemin1986]

its not america that the world hates, its your former president! bush

[unc135am]

Fuck you. God Bless America.