Extraordinary scenes have been witnessed during the latest protests against authoritarianism in Canada.
On a day that started out with -35C wind chill, thousands of protestors joined together at Canada’s capital to oppose further restrictions and regulations, among them the forcing of trackers to be ‘fully’ vaccinated. It is uncertain as to what “fully” means with inconsistent information about what fully vaccinated means confusing many.
Prime Minister Trudeau, possibly afraid of the situation, was moved to a secret location. On the protests, he stated they were 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.″. Many responses to Mr Trudeau’s allegation were given, including this:
“@justinpjtrudeau, the charade is over. You seriously thought you could downplay this movement as a small fringe minority with unacceptable views so that people would be scared to be associated with it. You only united us.”
His words also appeared to be in conflict with what was witnessed, with various observers giving significant figures:
“In Canada we have one of the biggest revolutions happening. Right now there’s 50,000 truckers and 1.4M people headed to the parliament in Ottawa. And they’re going to stay there until Trudeau resigns, or they give us back all of our freedoms and rights.” ?? @TheoFleury14 pic.twitter.com/VybSq0PAT2
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 26, 2022
There was also positive news for the local Ottawa economy:
Amusing sidebar: hotel at which I’m staying in Ottawa is full for first time in two years. Trucker convoy is doing more for the economy than most governments!
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) January 29, 2022
An army of volunteers was on hand to support both truckers and supporters:
Pendant qu’on dormait dans nos camions, des gens qui nous appuient ont passé la nuit à s’occuper qu’on ne manque de rien ce matin. Tout cela bénévolement. Wow ça me réchauffe le cœur en ce matin glacial. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Qv9mKZwOc9
— syl ? (@demonne6669) January 29, 2022
While many mainstream media outlets have been reporting on any allegations of concerns towards the protestors, it has been of interest to note the distinct absence of violence or even disturbance, in contrast to ANTIFA or BLM riots. Indeed, the local economy has already benefitted greatly from the Freedom Convoy, with truckers and supporters being very willing to engage in the shops and accommodation providers in the city.
Imagery and Video from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
