[EN IMAGES] Convoy to Quebec: large welcoming committee at Stoneham

Saying they had “enough” with sanitary measures, a few hundred demonstrators welcomed to Stoneham on Thursday evening a first convoy from the North Shore and Saguenay, on its way to Quebec.

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The convoy headed by Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier was triumphantly welcomed around 5 p.m. to the sound of horns.

The crowd began chanting “freedom” as a tractor trailer reading “Fuck Trudeau, Fuck Legault” pulled into the parking lot of the Petro-Canada gas station on Talbot Boulevard.

Trade unionist Bernard Gauthier immediately announced his colors by speaking to the gathering of around 250 people.

“As for our media, I think it’s cool, they haven’t had any interviews with the organizers, with the rest of us, and it’s going to continue like this,” the man said, saying he only wanted to speak with the media. alternative and regional”.

“That’s it, that’s all, and I invite you all Saturday evening in the octagon with me and the Bonhomme Carnaval” he quipped in reference to the people who accuse the movement of overshadowing the winter party.

According to him, the purpose of the demonstration is to make it known that “the world is disgusted” and that “we want to regain our lives and get our lives back”.

The members of the convoy had a generally closed attitude towards the media. “Mainstream media, sorry, you’re all on the side of the government,” accused one lady.

“We don’t give up”

Declining in turn any interview, Kevin “Big” Grenier, one of the organizers of the North Shore convoy, however, said that the goal was not to cause mayhem. “We are leaving peacefully, hand in hand.”

In a video broadcast live on social media earlier, he argued that the goal is not to “fuck your carnival” or “jam your city” while warning in the same breath: “we don’t give up and we don’t leave Quebec as long as we haven’t had what (sic) we wanted.

“We want to restore freedom to our citizens,” he insisted, when COVID-19 continues to claim victims in Quebec – including more than 1,500 last month.

In Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, the atmosphere was generally festive. Workers, parents with strollers and retirees alike have come together to support the siege-inspired movement underway in Ottawa.

“The message we want to send is that the current health measures, I find, are exaggerated and are not really based on science. It seems that these are measures that are more political […] That’s enough,” said Sasha Damien, 40, from Quebec, who came with her two-year-old daughter.

The resident has some against the vaccination passport, among other things. He intends to demonstrate in front of the National Assembly in the coming days, as he has done in the federal capital recently. “We don’t want any overflow,” he warns.

As for the duration of the mobilization, “it’s hard to say […], I think it will stretch the time it takes for the government to see that the population is very tired of all its measures, ”he argues.

Several claims

Trucker, Jean Dion, from Charlesbourg, joined the convoy to Quebec City for the evening with his truck, but had no intention of leaving his truck downtown for the night. “If I go parker the truck, I don’t go out anymore!”, he fears.

“I think the government is not listening to the people. What must change, first, are the restrictions on COVID-19, it is exaggerated, ”says the 64-year-old man, who says he has been vaccinated three times.

“I am here to fight for my freedom […] I have been taken prisoner in my own country,” denounced another protester, a 30-something man from Stoneham who refuses the injection against COVID-19, and who also went to express his dissatisfaction in Ottawa.

Anthony Palmer, owner of a transport company and resident of Stoneham, also came to support the Quebec convoy, but will demonstrate on Saturday in Ottawa rather than Quebec with his truck.

“I think we each have our fights to do, I think that first of all we have to devote ourselves there [à Ottawa] to have a mass effect, and I think Quebec will have its turn soon enough. […] I think there are people who are not able to go to Ottawa for different reasons and we understand them, ”he says.

“The rest of us are clearly not “antivax”. I have my three doses, I am vaccinated. I’m there for my drivers, I’m there for those around me. I refused contracts, me, outside, because I have drivers who do not want to be vaccinated, and they have the right. […] I will not squeal my drivers out because they are not vaccinated, ”he laments.

Few trucks

Only about 20 vehicles and seven trucks stopped at this “refueling point” in Stoneham, while several others appeared to continue on their way south.

The convoy had set off early in the morning in Sept-Îles, making several stops on its way, notably in Saguenay, where the procession then had more than a hundred vehicles, but very few heavy goods vehicles.

“Don’t trust the size of the convoy. There are some who don’t like riding in a convoy, so they started on their own, no convoy. A lot of people are going up tomorrow, Saturday too. It will go up over three days, I can’t wait to see what it will do, ”mentioned in a Facebook video driving his vehicle, organizer Bernard Gauthier.

A bit everywhere on the route of the demonstrators, citizens gathered in small groups to encourage them. According to the words of Bernard Gauthier, several people also gave cash donations to the organizers in support.

— With the collaboration of Pierre-Paul Biron

• Listen to the interview with Bruno Cossette, participant in the demonstration and the convoy heading for Quebec

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