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Anti-war demos call for end to Afghan mission
Anti-war protesters held rallies across Canada Saturday against the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Demonstrators organized rallies in 20 communities, including Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. At the Toronto rally -- where about 1,000 protesters showed up -- they shouted, "End it, don't extend it," in reference to Canada's military mission in war-torn Afghanistan. The protests come after Parliament voted 198-77 on Thursday to extend the Afghan mission until December 2011. They also marked the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion on March 19. In Canada, the Conservatives and Liberals voted for the motion, while the NDP and Bloc Quebecois opposed the extension. NDP Leader Jack Layton attended the Toronto demonstration, which was held at the Ontario legislature. "Canada should be on a path towards peace in Afghanistan," he told CTV News at the rally. "We should be a voice calling for the end to this kind of conflict, but instead our government is prolonging it -- and that's wrong." The Canadian Peace Alliance, which helped organize Saturday's protests, said in a news release that the Afghan war has "nothing to do with the defense of democracy or women's rights in Afghanistan and everything to do with advancing U.S. strategic interests in the region. The release said that Canadian soldiers were being used as "cannon fodder." Eighty Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002, along with one diplomat and a civilian aid worker. Foreign troops have operated in Afghanistan since the fall of 2001. They helped push the Taliban from power for harbouring al Qaeda, the Islamist terror group whose members carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on U.S. soil. Canada has 2,500 soldiers serving in southern Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Stabilization Assistance Force (ISAF). They are operating the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar province, one of the most volatile and dangerous parts of Afghanistan. Posted by: Fred 2008-03-16 |
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