Torontonians are holding a vigil for Alex Pretti and other victims of ICE
They’ll gather outside the US Consulate this evening
A group of Torontonians will host a vigil tonight for Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
An invitation posted to Reddit encourages attendees to come with candles, wreaths and photos to honour Pretti and show solidarity with protesters resisting ICE’s violent immigration crackdown in the US.
Related: Doug Ford is backtracking on his comments about Ontario-made armoured ICE vehicles
Pretti’s horrific death was recorded on video by bystanders. Before he was killed, he was trying to help a woman who had been tackled and pepper-sprayed by ICE agents. Pretti is the second civilian fatally shot by immigration officers in Minneapolis this month, after Renee Nicole Good, a poet and the mother of a young child, whose death was also filmed.
Footage of both killings has bolstered mass resistance to ICE’s occupation of Minnesota and beyond. A protest in Minneapolis on Friday saw more than 50,000 people marching in frigid weather.
Related: Some of ICE’s armoured vehicles were made in Brampton
The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Canadian Medical Association have released statements in solidarity with Pretti.
The Toronto vigil will take place at 5 p.m. tonight outside the US Consulate, at 360 University Avenue.
Edward Lander is a Toronto-based writer who is currently Toronto Life’s editorial intern. He’s passionate about features and creative non-fiction. He studies journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he also edits features for the campus newspaper.
