Thousands of people demonstrated in Canadian cities, including the financial hub Toronto, as mostly peaceful but noisy protests against vaccine mandates spread from Ottawa, the capital. The “Freedom Convoy” began as a movement against a Canadian vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has turned into a rallying point against public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
“We’re all sick and tired of the mandates, of the intimidation, of living in one big prison,” said Robert, a Toronto protester who did not give his last name. “We just want to go back to normal without having to take into our veins the poison which they call vaccines.”
Protesters have shut down downtown Ottawa for the past eight days, with some participants waving Confederate or Nazi flags and some saying they wanted to dissolve Canada’s government.
“The protesters in Ottawa have made their point. The entire country heard their point,” said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, who urged protesters to “go home and engage elected officials.”
Ottawa police said hate crime charges were laid against four people and they were investigating threats against public figures jointly with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The well-organised blockade, which police say has relied partly on funding from sympathizers in the United States, saw protesters bring in portable saunas on Saturday to combat frigid temperatures.
One man rode through the area on horseback, carrying a Trump flag, social media videos showed. Former US President Donald Trump has spoken out in support of the truckers against “the harsh policies of far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID-19 mandates.”
GoFundMe took down the Freedom Convoy’s donation page on Friday, saying it violated the plat-form’s terms of service due to unlawful activity. The group had raised about C$10.1 million.
The website originally said it would give re-funds for any requests made by February 19 and would remaining funds to verified charities, but on Saturday GoFundMe said it would refund all dona-tions automatically.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has previously criticized vaccine mandates, called GoFundMe “professional thieves.” Florida Governor Ron De-Santis and other Republican state lawmakers vowed to investigate the California-based company over the move.
About 5,000 people demonstrated in Ottawa, police said, while hundreds more gathered in To-ronto, Canada’s biggest city, and Quebec City, coin-ciding with the city’s annual winter carnival. Four people were injured in Manitoba after a pick-up truck drove into a crowd late Friday, police said.
In Toronto, about 500 healthcare workers and supporters rallied downtown in opposition to the trucker convoy, according to a Reuters witness.
Several Toronto healthcare workers said they received advice from their hospitals to not wear hospital scrubs in public in light of the protest.
“The notion that we have to somehow skunk around or be afraid of who we are and what were doing, I think, is offensive and regrettable, and I think, a sad commentary on our society,” emergency room doctor Raghu Venugopal told Reuters.—AFP
