Pro-Palestine protesters attend Edmonton MP's office as part of nationwide protest

A group of pro-Palestine protesters gathered at MP Randy Boissonnault's office in Edmonton on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

A group of pro-Palestine protesters took over an Edmonton MP's office as part of a Canada-wide protest asking the federal government to support the ceasefire of Gaza.

Police responded to a "disturbance" at the office of Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault just after 11:30 a.m. and asked nine protesters to leave.

They "complied without issue," an Edmonton Police Service spokesperson said in an email.

The group was inside for about an hour, the local organizer for Palestine Solidarity told CTV News Edmonton outside the office, where the demonstration continued.

"When we went upstairs, we had a letter that we wanted MP Boissonnault to sign and his staff refused to even try to call him to have him speak with us, so we have now moved outside, where we will be reading the names of the 6,000 dead that we know in Palestine," Audrey Redman said.

An immediate ceasefire in Gaza is the group's main demand.

Last week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call for a ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel. Days later, Trudeau met with opposition leaders to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.

The prime minister has called for "humanitarian pauses" instead, with the hopes of permitting medical supplies and aid to enter Gaza, and allowing Canadians and other foreign nationals to get out.

Protesters attended 17 MP offices in 12 cities across Canada on Monday.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to Boissonnault's office for comment on this story.

With files from CTVNews.ca