How the Protest Went and How it is Going

You may be curious about what happened on the dreaded convoy demonstration weekend.

Let me say that it wasn't as bad as I feared, but it was bad enough. As you know, I feared that there would be violence, but there was little of that although there was aggression to those passersby who were unsupportive and to others. I do wonder whether it was too cold to get the blood boiling. As I sit down to compose this on Monday, for Tuesday's post, many protesters have, apparently, remained in town. Police have asked for people to stay home today.

I don't want to belabor my reporting, so here we go with bullet points. I am trying to be careful to stick to the facts.

• Although I called it a pickup convoy, from my early glimpses very many transports did show up. I think a lot of the big ones came from nearby places, like Toronto. They could make a shorter trip for just the weekend.
• They jammed downtown causing gridlock and blared their horns incessantly, making life difficult for local residents.
• They hindered the passage of emergency vehicles. One person died in transit. The driver claimed that he was deliberately hindered from getting through the congestion. The trip was prolonged for sure.
• Vaccination clinics had to be closed.
• Some felt free to urinate and, reportedly, sometimes worse, outside. The city provided 15 portable toilets. Fifteen potties for a mob that size aren't much, but this was not a community sponsored event. Unfortunately, the organizers did not think to make any accommodation by bringing or arranging their own. 
• As part of the lockdown. Ontario restaurants were still closed for indoor dining, but we have been able go in, masked, to purchase refreshments to take away. There were reports of unmasked protestors forcing their way into establishments and demanding both sustenance and bathroom usage.
• A soup kitchen, The Inn of the Good Shepherd, was entered by a group who demanded to be fed. They were accommodated.
• The downtown mall decided to remain closed on Monday. I understand that other eateries are continuing to do the same.
• Some locals reported still being harassed on Monday and were told to remove their masks. I don't know if they did or how threatening the encounters were. 
• There are/were many Confederate flags on display.
• Many, many swastika flags were sighted.
• The Canadian flag was often, if not always, displayed upside down.
• At least one upside-down Canadian flag had a swastika added to it.
• F*ck Trudeau flags were very popular.
• There were signs that only some people would understand to be racist: dogwhistles. They were saying trueblood or pureblood. (I can't remember which.) If you didn't know what they meant, they might be seen to be innocuous, but the insiders know and understand. 
• There was a video clip of a group mockingly imitating a native dance with drums. It was accompanied by hooting and laughter by the onlookers. 
• Terry Fox is a much loved Canadian icon. His statue was festooned with protestor regalia. This was sure not to garner goodwill.
• The National War Memorial was dishonoured and crowded with protestors at times.
• The Tomb of The Unknown Soldier which is part of the memorial was trod upon and, reportedly, much worse. I will leave it to your imagination.
• The Aboriginal War Memorial was also dishonoured.
• Both memorials needed to be cleansed on Sunday, and to their credit, the organizers were reported to put their own guard around the National War Memorial. I don't know about the aboriginal one.
• As of Monday evening, many were still in Ottawa with horns blaring and people being harassed.
• Three emergency vehicles reported rocks being thrown at them. I don’t know what type of vehicles they were. 

All of this over a prick in the arm.