Toronto protest demands freedom for Irish, Palestinian, Indigenous prisoners; expresses solidarity with #OccupyINAC

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On Sunday, 17 April, Sunday Poetry and the Anti-Colonial Working Group protested and flyered for International Political Prisoners’ Day in Toronto, focusing on Palestinian, Irish and Indigenous prisoners, including Leonard Peltier.

The event included a 32CSM message in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and prisoners of reaction around the world.

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Participants then marched to the INAC (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) office in Toronto, where there is an ongoing occupation by Indigenous activists and allies, including Black Lives Matter, in protest of a lack of needed services and supports for Indigenous communities by the colonial Canadian state and to demand support for Attawapiskat, an Indigenous community where youth have put forward demands after a state of emergency as a result of 11 attempted youth suicides last Saturday. “It’s about 400 years of history. This is a long, ongoing colonization on our soil,” said Carrie Lester of the Mohawk Six Nations Grand River. “That’s what led to today…the suicides of these kids is not recent, it has been going on for decades.”

Occupations are taking place at INAC offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Vancouver and elsewhere across the country in support of Attawapiskat.