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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