“Outside the CAQ”, chant the many demonstrators who converged on Saturday afternoon in the heart of L’Assomption in opposition to the outgoing government of François Legault and its management of the pandemic, while local authorities are preparing for the “storm that could be caused by the arrival of convoys from all over Quebec in this city of Lanaudière.
“So it’s very nice to see you here!” We are really proud of you, to remember all that we have endured, “launched in front of a cheerful crowd gathered behind a high school in L’Assomption the organizer of the convoy from Baie-Comeau Kevin “Big” Attic.
The “Dehors la CAQ” event led to the departure of convoys of motorists from all over Quebec on Saturday morning. They gradually converged at the beginning of the afternoon at L’Assomption in order to demonstrate loudly there. The local authorities have also put in place numerous security measures in anticipation of this gathering. Police officers are thus present at the entrance to the city and in its city center on Saturday to monitor the progress of this mobilization.
“We are prepared for this storm, hoping that there will be no storm”, confides the mayor of L’Assomption, Sébastien Nadeau, met at 11 a.m. in the city center of this city of 24,000 inhabitants. According to local authorities, 1,500 to 2,000 truckers and motorists should converge in this city, an estimate which could however be revised downwards, indicates the mayor.
Around noon, the demonstrators gathered near the Paul-Arseneau secondary school, in front of which many cars began to parade noisily around 12:30 p.m., under the cries of encouragement from a few hundred demonstrators waving Quebec flags, of Canada and the Patriots.
The demonstrators then moved to a green space located behind this school, where loudspeakers vibrate with music sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English, or even in French. ” Freedom ! “And” Dehors la CAQ “are on everyone’s lips of the demonstrators, who brandish numerous posters showing their opposition to health rules and to the outgoing government.
A rally is then planned at the CHSLD L’Assomption in the early afternoon, where the demonstrators will lay flowers in tribute to the victims of the pandemic. A moment of silence will also be respected, according to the organizers of the event. A gathering that does not concern the beneficiary attendant Jonathan Nadon, who works in this CHSLD. “There are people watching outside, watching the parking lot, so we still feel safe. »
The demonstrators will then begin a march of approximately one kilometer to the constituency office of François Legault, the outgoing deputy for the Assumption and candidate for his re-election, before returning to their starting point.
This march will also be closely supervised by the police. “As the peloton advances, we will reopen the streets until they return, so we won’t harm the citizens who have to move, while supervising the crowd to make sure it’s safe. “explains Mayor Sébastien Nadeau.
In anticipation of this gathering in the heart of the Assumption, police officers from the City and the Sûreté du Québec were deployed and access to several streets was closed. The residents met by The duty However, they continued to carry out their daily activities calmly at the end of the morning.
The demonstrators, for their part, are reluctant to speak to the media, but some of them said they were here to call on residents to vote for “any party” except the Coalition avenir Québec. “I am here before anything so that Legault goes away, that he goes outside”, indicates among others Nathalie Vézina, a demonstrator who had also taken part, last winter, in the mobilization of truckers in Ottawa. .
“There are all kinds of people [parmi les manifestants]but I think a lot of people are here to be remembered, ”said Roger Traverse, who traveled from Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, in the Laurentians, to take part in this mobilization.
A business opportunity
Some traders see this gathering as an opportunity to do good business. This is particularly the case of Serge Richard, the owner of the Brasserie Saint-Maurice, located on the boulevard de l’Ange-Gardien, where the demonstrators will parade this afternoon. “We’re going to have a good day with that today, I think,” says the merchant who, for the occasion, mobilized several of his employees.
Mr. Nadeau, for his part, is confident that the demonstration will end this evening in order to relieve the merchants and the citizens who will be affected by this mobilization. “The more people there are, the longer it will take,” he agrees, however. To be continued.