Heavy police presence as pro-Israel rally begins in downtown Montreal

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With the pro-Israel rally still almost an hour from its scheduled start time on Tuesday morning, recorded drumming and up-beat music could already be heard for blocks around coming from the speakers at Place du Canada in downtown Montreal.

There were already hundreds of people milling about the square, some waving Israel’s flag, some Canada’s, and some both. The square was well-surrounded with police cars and vans.

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Depending on the weather, between 5,000 and 8,000 people are expected at a pro-Israel rally in downtown Montreal on Tuesday, an organizer told the Gazette on Monday.

It’s an annual event that normally attracts between 4,000 and 5,000 supporters of Israel.

The event, set to run from 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., commemorates Israel’s Independence Day 76 years ago, on May 14, 1948.

“This year marks 76 years since the Jewish people rose as a phoenix from the ashes of the Holocaust just three years earlier and created not only the Middle East’s single democracy but a vibrant, thriving society that has contributed so greatly to the family of free nations,” the Jewish Unity Partnership, which organizes the event, said in a statement.

Montreal4Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group with more than 35,000 followers on Instagram, has urged its supporters to stage a protest to denounce Israel.

It said Israel’s “‘independence’ is our Nakba, our catastrophe – and has no right to be celebrated,” accusing Israel of being a “genocidal apartheid state” that has “slaughtered countless Palestinians.” The group urged supporters not to engage with those celebrating Israel, “as our goal is to disrupt, not confront.”

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