Thousands of protesters gathered in Canada’s capital on Saturday to protest vaccine mandates, masks, and lockdowns. Some parked on the grounds of the National War Memorial and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, others carried signs and flags with swastikas and some used the statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an anti-vaccine statement, sparking widespread condemnation.
“I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial. Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, including free speech, but not this. Those involved should hang their heads in shame,” tweeted Gen. Wayne Eyre, Canada’s Defense Staff chief. Protestors compared vaccine mandates to fascism, one truck carried a Confederate flag and many carried expletive-laden signs targeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Meanwhile, A ‘Freedom Convoy’ of trucks joined by thousands of demonstrators brought Ottawa to a virtual standstill for a second day on Sunday as they protested Canada’s vaccine mandates, as other sympathetic truckers blocked a border highway into the United States.
The truckers say there is no ‘end date’ in sight and plan to stay in the capital ‘for as long as it takes’ and until the Canadian government flips and withdraws its policy on vaccine mandates. The chaos clogged the capital’s downtown near parliament throughout the weekend and brought criticism from officials, including Ottawa’s mayor who said residents were ‘prisoners in their own home.’
But the demonstrators say they intend to stay and that their aim is to ‘create chaos’ and a ‘logistics nightmare’ for the Justin Trudeau’s government. ‘Right now, yeah, it’s really cold, but we hang in there, the days are going to get longer and we take this block party and put it into overdrive,’ BJ Dichter, one of the organizers of the Freedom Convoy, said at a press conference.
‘We’re in this one for the long haul. We don’t have a time limit.’ In more detail, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family were moved from their residence to a secret location on Saturday due to the security risk posed by growing anti-vax protests in the capitol of Ottawa, CBC reports.
Protestors initially descended on the streets Saturday to push back against the country’s vaccination mandate for long-haul truck drivers, many of whom operate across the U.S.-Canadian border. However, it has since turned into a massive—though currently peaceful—protest against a variety of public health measures. Many truckers and other protesters have flooded the parliamentary precinct. Trudeau is currently in isolation after one of his children tested positive for COVID.
