Canada anti-vax protests
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At the request of commenter Keta, here’s a post for discussing the extremely disturbing goings-on in Ottawa:
Justin Trudeau has said that Canadians were disgusted by the behaviour of anti-vaccine protesters, and said he would not be intimidated by those who hurled abuse.
The Canadian prime minister spoke as central Ottawa remained blockaded by dozens of trucks and other vehicles after thousands descended upon Parliament Hill on Saturday to protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates.
Police said they were investigating possible criminal charges after protesters urinated on the National War Memorial, danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and used the statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an anti-vaccine statement. Some also harassed volunteers at a soup kitchen and flew Nazi flags.
“We are not intimidated by those who hurl abuse at small business workers and steal food from the homeless,” Trudeau told a virtual news conference on Monday.
“We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. We won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism … There is no place in our country for threats, violence or hatred,” he added.
Trudeau’s comments came shortly after he tweeted that he had tested positive for Covid-19, but was “feeling fine” and would continue working remotely.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Ottawa Saturday to protest vaccine mandates, masks and lockdowns. Some travelled in truck convoys and parked on the streets around Parliament Hill, blocking traffic.
Ottawa police said officers were also investigating threatening behavior to police and others.
“Several criminal investigations are under way in relation the desecration of the National War Memorial/Terry Fox statue,” Ottawa police said.
Some demonstrators parked on the grounds of the National War Memorial and others carried signs and flags with swastikas, sparking widespread condemnation.
The statue of Fox, a national hero who lost a leg to bone cancer as a youngster, then set off in 1980 on a fundraising trek across Canada, was draped with an upside-down Canadian flag with a sign that said “mandate freedom”.
Justin Trudeau retweeted a statement from the Terry Fox Foundation that said :“Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others.”
Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. The prime minister has said Canadians are not represented by this “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”.
Deirdre Freiheit, president of the Shepherds of Good Hope, which run a soup kitchen for the homeless in Ottawa, said several protesters showed up at the soup kitchen on Saturday and verbally abused staff and volunteers while demanding they be served. She said some protesters were given food to defuse the situation, but going forward meals will be given only to those who need them.
The convoy of truckers and others prompted police to prepare for the possibility of violence and warn residents to avoid downtown. A nearby mall and liquor stores closed early on Saturday and remained closed on Sunday.
The demonstration was initially aimed at denouncing vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-US border, but the movement has morphed into a protest against a variety of Covid-19 restrictions and Trudeau’s government.
In the USA, the politics of the anti-vax movement are a melange of every insane reactionary conspiracy theory about the world. People more knowledgeable about Canadian politics than I am can explain how all this craziness translates north of the border.