In showing solidarity with demonstrators, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee and bowed his head at a Black Lives Matter anti-racism demonstration in Ottawa in Canada that demanded fairer treatment for the minorities from the police authorities.
Wearing a black cloth mask, Trudeau arrived with security guards at Parliament Hill, Canada’s parliament, along with his Families Cabinet Minister Ahmed Hussen.
While he did not speak, he nodded and clapped to things said by other activists and speakers at the event. When a speaker discussed about promoting love and justice, he also shouted ‘Amen.’
The protest was organized by No Peace Until Justice, an organization working for equality and social justice for the minorities and marginalized sections of the society in Canada.
Demonstrators have urged police officers to honour the Blacks subject to police brutality and violence by kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the time that a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of African-American George Floyd, due to which he passed away in police custody.
Earlier, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders also took a knee during a demonstration.
“We see you and we are listening,” Saunders, who is black, tweeted after the meeting. “We have to all stay in this together to make change.”
Former American football NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick launched this kneeling gesture a few years back. When the American national anthem was being played at a match, he dropped to one knee to protest the treatment of African-Americans by the police authorities.
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