Protests against Canadian COVID vaccine orders block Ottawa for second day Reuters

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Dozens of trucks and other vehicles blocked downtown Ottawa for the second day in a row as thousands of people marched on the Canadian capital on Saturday to protest orders from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the COVID-19 vaccine.

The trucks were parked near parliament on the streets on Sunday morning before the holiday break before members of parliament began work. Some truckers said they would not leave until the mandate was revoked.

Thousands of people gathered in peace https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ottawa-set-massive-protest-against-canadas-vaccine-mandates-2022-01-29 on Saturday, though some incidents sparked outrage. A protester was filmed dancing in the grave of an unknown soldier, and the display of swastika flags sparked outrage on social media, and a downtown shopping mall was closed because protesters refused to wear masks.

Demonstration began as a protest against the vaccination requirement for cross-border drivers https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-trudeau-slams-fear-mongering-over-covid-vaccine-mandate-truckers- 2022-01-24 , but it became a demonstration against the Trudeau government with a strong surge in vaccines.

“There were large crowds in the center all night,” Ottawa police said in a statement. “Officials faced a number of challenges with the protesters, including occasional roadblocks by trucks … These high-risk situations were eliminated and resolved without arrest.”

Due to security concerns, Trudeau and his family left their home in downtown Ottawa on Saturday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) reported. Earlier this week, Trudeau said the convoy represented a “small minority of rats” that did not express the views of Canadians.

About 90% of Canadian cross-border truckers and nearly 79% of the population have been shot twice. Canada is now in the midst of a surge in cases of the Omicron variant being narrowed by hospitals https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-hospitals-strain-omicron-hits-health-workers-2022-01-24.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, in a speech in Texas on Saturday, praised Canadian protesters for “bravely resisting these lawless mandates.” Last week Tesla (NASDAQ 🙂 CEO Elon Musk also expressed his support for https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/anti-vaccine-canada-truckers-roll-toward-ottawa-praised-by-teslas -musk -2022-01-27.

The Conservative Party of Canada backed the protest https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/beleaguered-trudeau-rival-embraces-trucker-protest-despite-concerns-violence-2022-01-28, which had many of its goals . anger — in signs and songs — directly against Trudeau. The right-wing Canadian People’s Party, which has no seats in parliament, appeared at the rally.

“We are super-propagators of freedom,” Popular Party leader Maxime Bernier said in a speech on Saturday.

But Canadians took to social media to criticize the behavior of some protesters.

Michael Cooper, a Conservative lawmaker who distributed coffee in protest, was pictured wearing a swastika standing next to a Canadian flag in a television interview. He later posted a statement condemning the “reprehensible” protester on Twitter (NYSE :).

The top Canadian soldier, Chief of Defense Staff Wayne Eyre, denounced a woman filmed dancing in the grave of an unknown soldier, saying she was “sick.”

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said some protesters had harassed a soup kitchen by demanding free meals because refusing to use masks meant they were not asked in restaurants, according to an interview with CBC.

“You have the right to protest, you have had your protest, please continue,” Watson said.