Anti-Vax Protests Clog Multiple Canadian Cities [VIDEO]

Reuters reports:

Canadian cities, including the financial hub Toronto, faced disruptions on Saturday as protests against vaccine mandates spread from the capital of Ottawa, raising fears of clashes with counter protesters.

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” began as a movement against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has turned into a rallying point against public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

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 Toronto Star reports:

Gideon Providence, 29, said he was at the Toronto protest to oppose vaccine mandates. “I just want people to have the right not to have the vaccine and not have their livelihood threatened, “said Providence, who was wrapped in a Canadian flag, walking down Bloor Street West.

The 29-year-old, who lives in Toronto, said he also drove to Ottawa last weekend for the protest there. He is not vaccinated, he said, over the sound of cars and trucks blaring their horns, as he doesn’t “believe that anybody at all is really telling the truth,” and he “cannot make an Informed choice.”

A few steps away, a man in a thong, also wrapped in a Canadian flag, was dancing on top of a “Treason Trudeau,” float despite the cold temperatures.

The CBC reports:

As more trucks and smaller vehicles pour into Quebec City from across the province, police are directing traffic to try to prevent the demonstration from turning into a blockade.

While protesters have been holding smaller demonstrations since Thursday evening, larger crowds are gathering today around the Quebec National Assembly. Convoys of drivers have been arriving from different parts of the province, including the North Shore, Lower St. Lawrence, Saguenay and Beauce regions.

Protesters flying Canadian and Quebec flags and “freedom” signs from their cars followed a convoy of heavy trucks into the city from Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon on the south shore. They were met by some cheering supporters on overpasses above Highway 73.

CTV News reports:



As an ongoing protest impeding travel to the United States border enters Day 8, police have been monitoring several other demonstrations taking place around Alberta Saturday in solidarity with anti-vaccine-mandate protesters in Ottawa.

On Saturday, RCMP issued a statement on Twitter saying it appreciated those individuals at the Coutts, Alta., border protests who are having their voices heard in a “lawful way,” while adding that it had “several open investigations underway.”

“We are aware not all individuals are following the law,” the tweet reads. Protesters at the border town of Coutts, Alta., have now been on site for more than a week. For the time being, they are staying put, after a plan made earlier this week to vacate the site and head north to a protest in Edmonton was scrapped.