WINNIPEG — On Sunday afternoon, Winnipeg’s Jewish community gathered with flags in hand and peacefully protested against the threats to their community locally and worldwide.
The rally took place outside Asper Jewish Community Campus, where a threat came in against the community last week.
When Ron East found out about the threat to the community centre on Thursday, he said he realized something needed to be done to stand up against the hate.
READ MORE: Winnipeg’s Asper Jewish Community Campus evacuated after email threat
East said his children have been swimming at Asper Jewish Community Campus for years and to hear that the centre had received a threat against Jews, didn’t sit well with him.
“As a member of the Jewish community and the greater community of our city, I thought it was important we show support for our community and let people know we’ll stand up against hate and bigotry any day,” East said.
The Asper Jewish Community Campus was evacuated Thursday after a threatening email was received that afternoon.
The centre was evacuated for two hours, but police said they determined there was no threat and the building was reopened that evening.
This is just one of many recent threats to the Jewish community worldwide.
There have been similar incidents at Jewish centres across Canada and in the U.S.
RELATED: Vancouver Police investigating bomb threat at Jewish Community Centre
More than 130 threats have been made in the U.S. alone since January.
Attendees at Sunday’s rally said they hope their peaceful protest against threats would share the message with the haters in the world that nothing can knock down the Jewish community or any other community receiving hate.