As the hashtag #StopHazaraGenocide gains traction on Twitter, Vancouverites gather in solidarity.
Vancouver's Hazara community protested in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery today at 2 p.m. to "amplify calls for a UN Commission of Inquiry on the genocide of the Hazara people in Afghanistan," according to a tweet.
Hazara activists launched the social media awareness campaign under the hashtag #StopHazaraGenocide after a suicide bomber struck an education centre in Kabul on Sept. 30, killing 19 people and wounding 27, including teenagers who were taking university practice entry exams.
The explosion took place in Kabul's Dashti Barchi neighbourhood which is populated by ethnic Hazaras who belong to Afghanistan’s minority Shiite community.
Protesters can be seen wearing shirts reading #StopHazaraGenocide and holding posters with "Hazara Lives Matter' printed on them.
Some have the hashtag written in red on their hands and arms.
Framed photos of those who were killed were laid out on the Vancouver Art Gallery stairs.
With files from The Canadian Press.
