Thousands take part in multi-faith march
Thousands took part in a march to end hatred Friday evening in London.
It was in response to a deadly attack on a Muslim family last weekend, that left the commmunity in shock and mourning.
“Please no hating,” said an emotional march participant Leila Masserendine. “You are in Canada. Love each other. All you are Canadian. Love each other. Forget about hating.”
The march followed what police called a deliberate attack when a pickup truck mounted a curb and struck a Muslim family. Three generations of that family were killed. They have been identified as Salman Afzaal, 46, his 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal, 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, and their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Salman. A son, nine year old Fayez Salman, survived with serious injuries.
“The sense of compassion and show of solidarity and love and support have been extraordinary,” said Muslim faith leader Imam Abdul Fattah Twakkal. “It helps us to heal and this is the path that we want to take moving forward.”
Among the speakers at the starting line was John Davidson, known for walking across Canada with his late son Jesse to raise money for Duchenne Muscular Distrophy. He told the crowd that one act does not define a city. “The steps you take tonight send a clear message across the country and around the world that this is a loving, caring, and united community.”
Marchers walked south from the scene of the collision on Hyde Park Road at South Carriage Road to Oxford Street, then east to the London Muslim Mosque.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.