Protesters march through ByWard Market in support of Tigray

Protesters demonstrate in Ottawa's ByWard Market in support of Tigray fighters in Ethiopia. April 2, 2022. (Jeremie Charron/CTV News Ottawa0

Dozens of protesters took to the streets in Ottawa's ByWard Market Saturday afternoon to show support for people living in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

“We’re calling for an end to the blockades around Tigray and for more media attention on the dire humanitarian crisis. Even the World Health Organization has said nowhere on Earth are people more at risk than Tigray,” Azeb Gebrehiwot, one of the organizers of the protest said. 

A convoy of food aid trucks entered the Tigray region Friday, the first humanitarian convoy to do so since Dec. 14.

Ethiopia’s federal government recently declared an immediate humanitarian truce in the war that has been going on for more than a year. The pause in the fighting was deemed necessary to get badly needed supplies into the region. 

The UN estimates 90 per cent of Tigray’s six million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The trucks that arrived Friday were carrying more than 500 metric tons of supplies.

--With files from The Associated Press.