Thousands of religious freedom activists have flooded the streets of Montréal to rally against the provincial government’s Bill 21, which aims to bar public service employees from wearing symbols of faith while on the job.

Marching through the downtown area of Québec’s capital, protesters carried banners in favor of religious freedoms and against the proposed legislature, which seeks to secularize provincial Canadian society. “The CAQ’s secularism bill is discriminatory and undermines the fundamental rights of religious minorities in Québec, particularly Muslim women wearing the hijab,” said Adil Charkaoui, coordinator of the Collectif Canadien Anti-Islamophobie, on the group’s Facebook event page.

Hundreds in Montreal protesting against CAQ’s secularism bill at one point chanting “Quebec is not France. Vive la différence!” Say bill is discriminatory and want it scrapped. #loi21#Bill21pic.twitter.com/l9aqPOhfaP — Simon Nakonechny (@simon_nak) April 7, 2019

Protesters pouring into downtown by the hundreds, if not thousands, as protest against #bill21 marches down René-Lévesque Blvd #manifencours#loi21pic.twitter.com/SDiD7RypAl — Simon Nakonechny (@simon_nak) April 7, 2019

While the bill has provisions permitting current employees in the public sector to continue wearing religious attire (if they change job or even get promoted, they too will have to abide by the proposed law), critics of Bill 21 argue that the law will only create divisions in society by targeting minority groups, especially immigrants. Ahead of Sunday’s rally, a group of 250 university scholars wrote an open letter to the government, calling the proposed law –currently being debated by the provincial government– an attack on fundamental rights.

Entendu durant la manif contre la #loi21 sur la #laïcité au #Quebec « ici c’est pas la France vive la différence » pic.twitter.com/4w4eITO3fI — El Moaddem Soundos (@ElmSoun) April 7, 2019

Entendu durant la manif « on ne veut pas d’une loi qui divise les québécois » #laicité#Quebec#loi21pic.twitter.com/0MyMvc61zo — El Moaddem Soundos (@ElmSoun) April 7, 2019

“This law contributes to stigmatizing communities that are already seriously affected by racism and discrimination, more specifically, Muslim women and the Jewish and Sikh community,” the letter stated. “We are particularly concerned of the consequences of a law like this on the normalization of violence that these communities already suffer.”

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