Great Harwood Councillor Noordad Aziz joined other walkers in Remembering Srebrenica as they completed a 23-mile Walk of Peace from Blackburn Cathedral to Manchester Cathedral on 17th July.
The route took walkers between the two Cathedrals and stopped at places of worship and council premises along the way. This walk came at the end of Srebrenica Memorial Week and was one of nearly 200 events across the country to honour the 8,372 victims of Srebrenica who were killed in July 1995. Walking in solidarity with the survivors of the genocide, the walked mirrored the peace walk which takes place annually in Srebrenica.
Councillor Noordad Aziz said: “We felt it was important to take this message of peace out to the people and despite the heat, the blisters and aching muscles we all feel that we did that. At a time when there is so much to be concerned about with rising hate crime, we were able to spread a positive message of peace.”
Remembering Srebrenica Chairman Dr Waqar Azmi OBE explained: “21 years after the genocide, we are determined not only to remember the victims of Srebrenica, but to honour their memories by taking positive action to build better communities. Srebrenica teaches us that prejudice and hatred left unchecked can have catastrophic consequences, not only for the generation that suffers the violence, but for the following generations whose futures are also irreversibly altered.
“The parallels between the rhetoric in the Balkans in the 1990s and in the UK today are striking. Hate crime in the UK, particularly religious hate crime, has risen significantly. We must heed the deadly warning of Srebrenica and take action to challenge the stereotypes and prejudices that feed hatred. We must not allow those who spread divisive messages to succeed in their efforts to breed hatred and intolerance.
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