More than 4,000 people took part in a march in Montreal on Saturday to demand an end to all health measures against COVID-19 and offer their support for the “freedom convoys” that have paralyzed Ottawa and certain border crossings in the last days.
The demonstrators gathered around 9:30 a.m. in Jarry Park in a festive atmosphere before starting a march in several streets of the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension under police supervision. Demonstrators who so wish were then invited to join a convoy of truckers leaving from various regions of Quebec which will be heading to Ottawa this afternoon in support of the truckers who have been there for several days to put pressure on the government of Justin Trudeau.
Not a minority, protesters claim
Canadian flags dominated the crowd, where several demonstrators also waved Quebec flags and signs showing their opposition to wearing a mask and the health passport, among other things. The event was held at the initiative of different groups opposed to health measures and had attracted the interest of more than 10,000 people on Facebook in the past few days.
” Freedom ! chanted ad nauseam from protesters of all ages, including several children with their parents. According to a police source, there were around 4,500 marching through the streets of the borough, at the height of the mobilization, which ended around noon.
“We were perhaps a minority at the beginning, but we are really no longer a minority now”, launched Yan Beauchamp-Boucher, met at Jarry Park shortly before the start of this march. The father, present with his young son, said he was marked by his visit to Ottawa last weekend, in support of the truckers who have been mobilized there for about two weeks. “It’s great,” dropped the father, who says he is mobilizing so that his son “has a quality of life later”.
“We go back to zero”
The various participants in this walk met by The duty Saturday have also in turn called for the outright withdrawal of all health rules aimed at countering the spread of COVID-19.
“We are asking for the lifting of all warrants, all restrictions, in full. We are going back to zero, ”insisted Yan Beauchamp-Boucher. Remarks which were then taken up by the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier, who has made it his duty since the start of the health crisis to take part in the demonstrations against the health rules. “Legault should announce that he is ending all these health measures as soon as possible. This is no longer acceptable, ”he said on Saturday.
Around 11:30 a.m., the march took its participants to its starting point, at Jarry Park, where speeches were made, in particular by one of the event organizers, Carl Giroux. “The government is under so much pressure right now. They try to make us believe that we are a small minority, but this is not the case”, had launched the organizer, met a little earlier by The duty.
This demonstration comes a few days after the government of François Legault revealed its intentions for the next few weeks with regard to the lifting of several health measures, in particular with regard to indoor gatherings, as well as the holding of sports and cultural activities. “Yes, we are in the process of lifting health measures, but it is thanks to the people, who stood up”, launched the demonstrator Miguel Vital. The Legault government, for its part, assured that the mobilization held in particular in Quebec last weekend did not play into the balance in the easing announced.
counter-demonstration
In the morning, a hundred counter-demonstrators were waiting for the participants in this event, which momentarily raised the tension between the two groups, without however causing any overflow. Riot police separated the two protests, then police on bicycles took over.
“The populist right and the extreme right take advantage of this movement,” lamented a counter-demonstrator, Julien Arseneau, who believes that the “freedom convoys” divert the interest of the population from several important social issues, in the context of the pandemic.
The presence of a sign of the flag of Canada marked with a blue line in its center on the uniform of some police officers also reacted on social networks on Saturday. Contacted by The dutythe SPVM has confirmed that this “symbol” is not part of the police uniform.
“It is currently under analysis by an ethics committee,” said a spokesperson for the police force, Véronique Comtois.