Police order B.C. woman who praised Hamas not to protest for 5 months, says her group
CTV
A pro-Palestinian activist group says its international co-ordinator, who was arrested in a Vancouver hate-crime investigation, was released with an order not to attend any protests for the next five months.
A pro-Palestinian activist group says its international co-ordinator, who was arrested in a Vancouver hate-crime investigation, was released with an order not to attend any protests for the next five months.
The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network says Charlotte Kates was arrested by Vancouver police after she gave a speech last week praising the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas as “heroic and brave.”
Samidoun, an international activist group based in Vancouver that has organized protests about the Israel-Hamas war, says in a statement that Kates was briefly detained by police before being released on condition she not attend any “protests, rallies or assemblies,” until a court date on Oct. 8.
It says she has been charged, but a spokeswoman for the B.C. Prosecution Service says it does not have a file on Kates and it's waiting for a report from police to the Crown.
The Samidoun statement calls the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas “a legitimate military operation,” but Hamas is designated as a terrorist entity in Canada.
The attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, setting off Israel's offensive in Gaza that the Health Ministry there says has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.
A subsequent email from Samidoun says Kates did not write their original statement, which is attributed to the Canada Palestine Association. The group did not say who specifically wrote it.
