Massive gathering of truckers opposing govt.’s Covid-19 measures sees no violence or arrests.
QUICK FACTS:
- Thousands of protesters gathered in Canada’s capital on Saturday to protest vaccine mandates, masks, and lockdowns, The Associated Press (AP) reports.
- So many people and vehicles were in attendance at the rally that the city of Ottawa had to declare, “Streets in the downtown core are closed due to gridlock. There is no more room for vehicles.”
- The Parliamentary Protective Service expects as many as 10,000 protesters as part of a weekend-long rally.
- Protestors compared vaccine mandates to fascism, many carrying signs criticizing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s heavy-handed implementation of coronavirus-related policies.
- Eric Simmons, from Oshawa, Ontario, said all vaccine mandates should be ended, AP notes.
- “They’re not effective, they’re not working. It’s not changing anything. We can’t keep living like this. People are losing their jobs because they don’t want to get the vaccine,” Simmons said.
- Canadian Conservative lawmakers served coffee to the protesters, their party leader, Erin O’Toole, meeting with some truckers.
- Despite the thousands in support of the movement, Trudeau claimed Canadians are not represented by the convoy, calling it a “very troubling, small but very vocal minority of Canadians who are lashing out at science, at government, at society, at mandates and public health advice.″
- Because Covid-19 vaccines have only been available since 2021, there have been no long-term studies on their side effects.
- The convoy is demanding the federal and provincial governments terminate vaccine passports and all other “obligatory vaccine contact tracing programs”, and terminate Covid-19 vaccine mandates.
A PEACEFUL RALLY:
- Ottawa police reported no incidence of violence or injuries so far during the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration in downtown Ottawa, CTV News reports.
- Police told CTV News Ottawa Sunday morning that no arrests were made Saturday or overnight.
- In a statement on Friday, the Freedom Convoy organizers urged participants to “treat all police officers with respect” and “do not make any type of threat.”
- “If we keep calm and show love and support for one another, many things will happen. We will eventually cause the government to reverse its policy on Covid passports and vaccine mandates as the UK has recently done,” said one Facebook post.
BACKGROUND:
- The Freedom Convoy is calling for the end of vaccine mandates in Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic, notes CTV news.
- “On January 15th, a small team of Alberta truckers, their family members and friends, came to the decision that the Government of Canada has crossed a line with implementing Covid-19 vaccine passports and vaccine mandates,” said a statement Wednesday on the Freedom Convoy 2022 Facebook page. “As of today, we now have the support of millions of Canadians from across the country.”
- The protest has also attracted support from U.S. President Donald Trump and some Fox News personalities.
- “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way,” Trump said at a rally in Conroe, Texas. “They are doing more to defend American freedom than our leaders by far.”
- The Freedom Convoy 2022 GoFundMe page released an itinerary for Sunday in Ottawa.
- There will be a “Pray for Unity Service” at 11 am on Parliament Hill.
- At 1 pm, a media conference will be at an undisclosed location.
