City braces for latest protest on wheels
Prospect of Rolling Thunder biker rally touches nerves frayed by trucker convoy
For many Ottawa residents and business owners, the Rolling Thunder biker rally planned for this weekend is evoking painful memories of the noise and chaos of the Freedom Convoy occupation.
Organizers have said in social media posts that the event could draw thousands of vehicles. It has been marketed as a motorcycle rally in support of veterans, but other vehicles are expected to take part.
The presence of vehicles, and the language surrounding the rally, including social media posts threatening to bring noise and disruption to Ottawa, have raised the spectre of yet another loud gathering downtown.
“I'm anxious about it,” said Catherine McKenney, the city councillor whose ward was hardest hit by Freedom Convoy protests. “The last illegal occupation is still very fresh in everyone's minds. We know that the group coming in, the people leading it, their statements indicate that they are sympathetic to the last illegal occupation that we had.
“The last rally was truckers, this time it's bikers.”
Businesses have also signalled concern. The Ottawa Police Service has said there will be road closures in the downtown core, something likely to impede visits to shops and restaurants.
“We're going to have our businesses lose business again,” said Christine Leadman, executive director of the Bank Street Business Improvement Area. “People will avoid the area again. The messaging will be the same, probably `Stay out of the core,' which harms business.”
Leadman attended a meeting with police representatives and city councillors on Tuesday. She said she hoped police would be able to minimize the impact of the rally and worried about groups with unknown intentions latching onto Rolling Thunder and causing chaos.
“The lack of consideration for the city residents and businesses (from the organizers) is of utmost concern,” Leadman said, “and I don't see that being any different with this group, especially with the language we're hearing from the police. We just hope things run smoother, and, for those areas, we've indicated that motorcycles make just as much noise as a truck and can be louder.”
The noise of vehicles and horns is a painful reminder to some area residents who have complained of hearing “phantom honking” since the initial days of the Freedom Convoy, when the air was filled with the ceaseless drone of air horns.
Vehicles will be restricted in the downtown core over the weekend and will not be able to take part in protests or planned ceremonies in the area, police said. On Tuesday, the service issued a map detailing a “motor vehicle exclusion zone” covering two major areas: the ByWard Market from Murray Street in the north to Rideau Street in the south and from Waller Street in the east to Mackenzie Avenue in the west; and Centretown and Sandy Hill from Wellington Street in the north to Laurier Street in the South from Bronson Avenue in the west to Waller Street in the east.
But, even with road closures and police planning to prevent any kind of long-term occupation, some residents worry they could hear motorcycles roaring down side streets.
Ottawa Public Health shared a message on Twitter urging residents who were stressed about the coming rally to reach out for help and provided a link to the city webpage about stressful events.
“There are still individuals who were living and or working in the neighbourhood who do have some post-traumatic stress related to it and concerns about how Rolling Thunder will be managed in the community,” said Michelle Hurtubise, executive director of the Centretown Community Health Centre.
The centre, on Cooper Street, not far from Wellington Street, heart of the Freedom Convoy protests, faced disruption in February, when the streets filled with truckers and supporters who were protesting vaccine mandates.
Hurtubise said the centre's programming would continue as usual this weekend, but said people who are stressed or anxious should reach out for help. She suggested contacting Counselling Connect, a free phone or video counselling service.
“I think there's this new feeling of concern when people are arriving intentionally with vehicles,” she said. “And that is directly related to having had the occupation where there were white-supremacist flags, the thin-blue-line flags, the (Gadsden) flags from the United States. Because of that association, people do have those concerns about what it means and what this group represents.”
Ryan St-Jean, an area resident, said he worried that the same distasteful and sometimes illegal activity would be repeated: that rally participants might accost or harass people wearing masks or that the constant noise would return.
“I get what they're doing, too. It's a protest. Mandates. They hate Trudeau. Every other reason under the sun,” St-Jean said. “But they're affecting the city. Ottawa-the-federal-government is different from Ottawa-the-city, and ultimately all the MPs can just go home for a little bit, but the Centretown residents get stuck with the bill, the rest of the city gets stuck with the bill.”
People will avoid the area again. The messaging will be the same, probably `Stay out of the core,' which harms business.