More Vancouver police officers have been deployed around the city on Monday as the world marks one year since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver police said there are a number of planned and unplanned events expected to take place and officers have stepped up patrols to make sure everyone stays safe.
“We have to acknowledge that there’s a lot of emotions in the community,” Addison said.
“There’s a lot of fear and anxiety today on the first year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. We’re here to provide a sense of calm, safety and reassurance to the community by providing a visible police presence not only here at the Jewish community centre with our mobile command centre but elsewhere in the community.”
Addison said uniformed school liaison officers have also been deployed along with members of the emergency response team at high-profile locations throughout the city.
“Our objective is to maintain calm, peace and reassurance in the community at a time when people are feeling quite uneasy,” he added.
Addison said there were several events over the weekend, including thousands of people who gathered on Saturday and marched through the streets of Vancouver.
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He said there were no serious events, but noted there were some incidents where officers had to intervene to prevent people from breaching the peace or inciting violence.
Addison added that officers’ heightened presence throughout the city on Monday is to maintain calm and provide safety and reassurance.
The surprise attacks saw more than 1,200 Israelis killed, making it the deadliest in the country’s history.
Two-hundred-and-fifty Israelis were abducted and taken as hostages.
Vigils were held across Israel on Monday with thousands gathering at the site of a music festival where many were killed.
Hamas’ attack triggered an Israeli counter-offensive in Gaza that continues today.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 41,000 people have since died there.
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