The University of Manitoba's pro-Palestinian camp celebrates Nakba Day

Pro-Palestinian protesters marked the 76th anniversary of Nakba Day at the University of Manitoba's Gaza Solidarity Camp on Thursday.

“The English translation of 'Nakba' is 'catastrophe' or 'catastrophe,' because that's the best way to describe it,” said Rana Abdullah of the Palestinian Association of Canada, speaking to the protesters.

Students, faculty and supporters gathered to commemorate May 15, 1948, the day hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes due to the creation of Israel.

The commemoration of the Nakba has taken on new significance this year, as hundreds of thousands more people have been displaced in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7 when militants attacked Israel.

“This is a dark day for many people and we hope to improve the situation in the future,” student protester Hussain Chokr told CityNews.

Chokr started at UM camp just over a week ago. Although he is not Palestinian, Nakba Day strikes a personal chord; his uncles fought alongside the Palestinians during the Lebanese civil war.

READ MORE: Palestinian protesters at two Winnipeg campus camps demand transparency from universities

“Today is about remembering them for their bravery, remembering them and their struggles and telling them, 'hey, we're here and we haven't forgotten what you've been through,'” Chokr said.

“The revolutionary movement for the cause of Palestine was bigger than ever. “Students and young people… have shown that we do not remain silent when there is genocide.”

Dozens of people gathered at UM Quad, one of Winnipeg's two pro-Palestinian camps, on Thursday afternoon. Student protests against the Israel-Hamas war erupted on major US campuses last month after more than 100 demonstrators were arrested at Columbia University in New York.

“The camps in Columbia may have fallen, but hundreds of camps across North America have risen,” UM student Zahra Rizvi told the crowd. “If you take down one camp, 100 camps will appear. “If you take down one roof, a thousand roofs will come up,” he said.

A Nakba Day camp at the university – alternating between sunny skies and torrential rain – brought together speakers not only from the Palestinian community (Abdullah) but also from the Lebanese community (Chokr); the Mennonite community (Byron Rempel-Burkholder, chairman of the Mennonite Church of Canada's Palestine-Israel network); and the Jewish community (Harold Schuster).

“Fighting for the liberation of Palestine is a fight for my freedom and for the freedom of all oppressed and marginalized people,” said Schuster, Independent Jewish Voices Winnipeg.

“We must continue to work together, together, and together,” Abdullah added.