Thousands protest in Canadian capital against virus mandates
OTTAWA — 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, others carried signs and flags with swastikas, and some used the statue of late Canadian hero Terry Fox to display an antivaccine statement, sparking widespread condemnation.
“Parking on this sacred ground that includes the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was a sign of complete disrespect,” Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson tweeted.
Protesters compared vaccine mandates to fascism, one truck carried a U.S. Confederate flag, and many had expletive-laden
signs targeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The statue of Fox, a national hero who lost a leg to bone cancer as a youngster and 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.”
Trudeau retweeted a statement from the Terry Fox Foundation that said, “Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others.”
David Santos said he came from Montreal because he believes the vaccine mandates are not health-related but what he calls a “control thing” by governments.
The convoy of truckers and others prompted police to prepare for the possibility of violence and warn residents to avoid downtown. A top Parliament security official advised lawmakers to lock their doors amid reports their private homes may be targeted.
Trudeau 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.”
Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and the premier of the province of Quebec, who is proposing to tax the unvaccinated, is popular.
Some demonstrators were protesting a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully immunized against the virus. The United States has imposed the same requirement on truckers entering the country.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance said a great number of the protesters had no connection to the trucking industry, adding that they had a separate agenda to push. The alliance notes the vast majority of drivers are vaccinated.
The organizers of the protest have called for the forceful elimination of all COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, and some demanded the removal of Trudeau.
Some Conservative Party lawmakers served coffee to the protesters including Michael Cooper, who was seen speaking on live TV while a person with an upside-down Canadian flag with a swastika walked past. Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole met with truckers.
“Today the threat against democracy isn’t only happening in America,” former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman tweeted. “Both the use of the swastika and the Confederate flag are symbols of hate. So very sad to see these symbols anywhere and especially in Canada.”
Tom Pappin, an unvaccinated man who took part in the protest, said: “I’m locked into my own country right now. I can’t go on a holiday. I can’t go to a restaurant. I can’t go bowling. I can’t go to a movie. You know, these are things that it’s just gotten out of control.”