Ottawa | Anti-vaxxers demonstrate outside parliament

(Ottawa) “Free Pat King! ” ” Freedom ! Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of downtown Ottawa on Friday to oppose mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and demand the departure of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The policy that applied to federal civil servants and transport workers was lifted by the government two weeks ago.

Mylene Crete
The Press

Protesters began pouring in outside the parliament building in the early afternoon, a few miles from the main stage for the midday ceremony and the Canada Day evening show. The call was made by the extremist group Stand 4 Thee who distributed flyers calling for the “citizen’s arrest” of Justin Trudeau for treason.

Some of its members had set up a table to distribute copies of the Canadian Bill of Rights, enacted in 1960 by the government of John Diefenbaker and replaced by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. The group falsely claims that this law can be used to reverse the health measures that had been imposed to curb the pandemic.

“There were obligations that there should never have been,” said anti-vaccine activist François Amalega Bitondo, known in Quebec for his arrests and imprisonment during the pandemic. He was released on conditions in May after 100 days in detention. He is accused of violating a condition that prohibited him from approaching within 300 meters of Quebec Premier François Legault and must return to court to hear his sentence in September.

“When the cases go up, there will still be restrictions,” he added.

Bitondo arrived in Ottawa the day before to greet James Topp, a Canadian Armed Forces reservist associated with radical right-wing groups, who marched more than 4,000 kilometers to oppose the mandatory vaccination policy for federal public servants and transport workers.

“We are parents, we are grandparents and we don’t like the direction in which Canada is going. We have to fix that,” explained an elderly Franco-Ontarian to The Press who was present with her spouse. She refused to give us her name because she doesn’t trust mainstream media.

Another demonstration organized by the Freedom Fighters group, affiliated with the “freedom convoy” of February, began in the middle of the afternoon in front of the parliament. Their slogans and signs contrasted with the families queuing a few feet away to see the prowess of the SkyHawks, the Canadian Armed Forces parachute team.

Hundreds of people then marched through the streets of downtown Ottawa. The demonstration supervised by the police took place in peace. ” Freedom ! “Trudeau must go!” “, they chanted under the curious gaze of some citizens. The march ended in front of the War Memorial without overflows.

People then returned to parliament on Wellington Street to continue celebrating. The leader of the People’s Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier, was seen chatting with some of them.

Protesters demand the release of Patrick King, one of the leading figures in the convoy of trucks that paralyzed the city center of the federal capital last winter. He is still incarcerated awaiting trial and faces several charges, including mischief.

They are also demanding that Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the “freedom convoy” be released. She has been behind bars since Monday for breaching her conditions. His hearing at the Ottawa courthouse is scheduled for Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, a first event organized by sympathizers of the “freedom convoy” was canceled following Thursday’s overflows. Four people were arrested during a rally at the War Memorial to welcome James Topp.

The group Police on Guard, which says it is made up of serving and retired police officers, said a family picnic it was planning in Strathcona Park a few miles from parliament has been canceled “due to a recent incident in Ottawa”. The statement was released Thursday evening after the first arrests.

Videos published on social networks show muscular arrests. The Ottawa Police Service says it is investigating what happened. “The initial investigation reveals that an interaction with officers became confrontational and that an officer was strangled,” he said on his Twitter account.

Four people were arrested, bringing the total number to 5 since Wednesday. According to the latest report published early Friday evening, municipal agents issued 284 parking tickets and towed 79 vehicles outside the city center.

The authorities have been multiplying warnings on social networks for several days to try to discourage the installation of a new convoy of trucks in the city center like that of last winter. Hundreds of trucks had blocked the streets around the parliament for three weeks, blaring their horns at all hours of the day or night for several consecutive days.

The Ottawa police remained powerless, which angered many citizens. At the height of the crisis, former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly called for 1,800 additional officers to dislodge the hundreds of trucks and their blaring horns that had come to rest on the streets of downtown Ottawa. the federal capital. He resigned a week later.

The federal government subsequently invoked the Emergency Measures Act for the first time since its adoption in 1988. A few days later, a vast police operation spread over three days had made it possible to dislodge the demonstrators.