A petition has been launched on Change.org to ban the display of symbols supporting  the Russian invasion to Ukraine.

The petition, which has already collected 10 000 signatures (as of May 4, 2022), states that "Russian Federation has invaded Ukraine. This is unprovoked war that has taken lives of thousands of peaceful Ukrainian civilians. Russian soldiers destroy infrastructure, attack civilians, bomb residential areas, drop powerful bombs on children's shelter and maternity hospital.

While committing those war crimes, while going against all moral norms of humanity, Russian army uses several symbols, like "Z", Ribbon of Saint George, flag of Soviet Union, and others. Those are symbols of hate towards Ukrainian nation.

Unfortunately, we see situations when people in Canada support Russian aggression. They display those symbols in public, raising hate against Ukrainians and supporting violation of basic human rights and norms of human decency by Russian government. Those symbols represent oppression, propaganda, killing of innocent people - everything that Canada is not. That's why those symbols have no place in Canada.

Canadian government, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, local and provincial governments must take a stronger position, support victims of Russian aggression and prevent symbols of hate of being displayed in public in Canada."

The petition is addressed to the Government of Canada and provincial premiers, as well as to Prime Minister Justin personally.

According to the authors, the display of such symbols in Canada incites hatred and encourages the violation of basic human rights and human decency.

Previously, similar measures were taken in European countries. For displaying the letter Z in Germany, you can be imprisoned for up to three years. The German criminal code punishes the encouragement or public approval of illegal actions, which include the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The German government positively assessed the intentions of the authorities of some German federal states to be more attentive to display of the letter Z in public places, which has become a symbol of Russia's war against Ukraine, and to prosecute those who support the Russian invasion in this way.

On the basis of similar petitions and the decision of the Parliament of Canada, the broadcasting of russian propoganda channels was blocked in Canada.

You can sign the petition here: change.org