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Interfaith March Honors Muslim Family Killed in Canada Truck Attack

AFP

   LONDON, CANADA - Several thousand people joined an interfaith march
   Friday evening honoring the four members of a Muslim family who were
   killed in an attack that has shocked Canada.

   The procession started at the site where three generations of a family
   out for a Sunday evening stroll -- 46-year-old Salman Afzaal; his
   44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna
   Salman; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal -- were killed in
   London, southern Ontario, as they were waiting to cross the street.

   The couple's 9-year-old son, Fayez, suffered serious but
   non-life-threatening injuries.

   The march against racism and Islamophobia culminated at London's
   mosque, about 7 kilometers away.

   The demonstrators, who included families with children, banged on drums
   while others sang John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."

   They held posters with messages like "Hate kills" and "We're all
   human."

   After a moment of silence marking the time of the tragedy,
   representatives from several religions gave speeches denouncing hatred
   and saluting the outpouring of support for London's 30,000-strong
   Muslim community.

   Other rallies or vigils in Canada on Friday took place in Toronto,
   Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, where a shooting in a mosque left six dead
   in 2017.

   The Afzaal family's funeral is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
   Nathaniel Veltman, 20, has been charged with four counts of
   first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the truck
   attack. If found guilty he faces life in prison.

   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the assault -- in which
   Veltman's truck mounted a curb and struck the Afzaal family -- a
   "terrorist attack."

   Detective Superintendent Paul Waight, who is leading the investigation,
   has said there was evidence "that this was a planned, premeditated act,
   motivated by hate."

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