Fearful Ottawa residents flee downtown as anti-vaccine mandate occupation drags on – Residents fed up with noise, racist harassment, and threats of violence – Police hate crimes hotline receives more than 200 calls – PM denounces “people waving swastikas”
By Kimberley Molina
8 February 2022
(CBC News) – As the disruptive protest in Ottawa drags into its second week, some residents of the downtown core say they’ve been living a nightmare, under siege and terrified to leave their homes — except to seek refuge away from the epicentre.
For 10 days, downtown residents have been subjected to relentless honking, random fireworks and choking diesel fumes from trucks parked near their homes. They’ve expressed outrage over the open display of hate symbols, and some say they’ve been subjected to racial, homophobic and transphobic slurs. Others claim they’ve been attacked for wearing masks.
Many residents say they’ve felt let down by all levels of government and police since the protest convoy arrived Jan. 28.
While there may be some reprieve to the horns after a judge granted a 10-day interim injunction Monday, many residents point out that won’t put an end to the multitude of other worries they’re facing.
“Being a woman of colour, I felt very fearful,” said Arushana, who left her home in the ByWard Market to stay with a colleague in the Glebe last weekend. CBC is not using her last name because she is concerned for her safety.
After putting up with sleepless nights and fireworks being aimed at her building, one of the final straws was seeing a Confederate flag on her way home from work.
“I broke down,” she said. “As a first-generation immigrant child, seeing such hatred, especially when my parents came to this country to provide me and my sister with a better opportunity and a better life … I didn’t feel safe.”
Kevin Nielsen described feeling “a general sense of terror,” living within blocks of Parliament Hill and felt intimidated every time he left his building. He left his home on Thursday to stay with friends elsewhere in the city.
“I was constantly on high alert,” he said. “It had a large impact on my mental health.”
He said he witnessed others being subjected to homophobic slurs, while also facing them himself through social media. […]
“I am a Jewish woman … On top of the deafening honking and stench of diesel, seeing the rampant antisemitism and the harassment of women for wearing masks was incredibly distressing,” one person wrote in an email.
Yet another wrote she was confronted on her way to the grocery store. “I was shoved, screamed at, called [sexist and homophobic slurs], and had three large men try to pen me in and physically block my way, because I was wearing a mask.”
One woman said that even though she doesn’t live downtown, she’s still fearful.
“I am a brown woman, and I am also incredibly scared of the occupiers. It infuriates me that people seem to be more upset about the war memorial than Nazi flags, Confederate flags and Trump flags being brandished about,” she wrote.
“I have lived in Ottawa my whole life and … this is the first time in my life that I don’t feel safe enough to [walk around].” [more]
Fearful Ottawa residents flee downtown as protest drags on
Centretown ice cream shop closes after worker reports assault on way to work
By Kimberley Molina
7 February 2022
(CBC News) – The owner of a downtown Ottawa ice cream shop decided to close its doors again this weekend after an employee said they were assaulted on their way to work.
The employee said they left their home in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood across the Rideau Canal from downtown early Friday morning on their way to work at Moo Shu Ice Cream & Kitchen on Bank Street.
But only a short distance from their home, the employee — whom CBC is not naming because of concerns for their safety — said they were approached by two men who hurled racial and other slurs and harassed them for wearing a mask.
“They were yelling racially charged slurs at me and asking me if the reason that I had my mask on was because I was an [anti-Asian slur],” they said.
“Essentially [they were] treating me like an Asian person who was going to give other people COVID just for just existing.”
The employee said the verbal harassment continued before they were shoved to the ground and the two men ran away. […]
As of Sunday morning, Ottawa police said its hate-motivated crime hotline had received more than 200 calls. [more]
Centretown ice cream shop closes after worker reports assault on way to work
‘It has to stop’: Trudeau demands end to trucker protest saying ‘people waving swastikas’ don’t represent Canada
By Oliver O’Connell
8 February 2022
(New York) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has demanded an end to the continuing protest by hundreds of truckers against Covid-19 restrictions that has paralysed Ottawa for 12 days.
“It has to stop,” Mr Trudeau said during an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday night following his return to parliament after isolating for a week due to a positive Covid-19 test.
“This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians,” he said. “Everyone’s tired of Covid, but these protests are not the way to get through it.”
He added: “But Canadians know the way to get through it is continuing to listen to science, continuing to lean on each other.”
“People of Ottawa don’t deserve to be harassed in their own neighbourhoods, don’t deserve to be confronted with the inherent violence of a swastika flying on a street corner, or a confederate flag, or the insults and jeers just because they’re wearing a mask. That’s not who Canadians are,” the prime minister said. “These pandemic restrictions are not forever.” …
Nevertheless, the prime minister said: “This is a story of a country that got through this pandemic by being united, and a few people shouting and waving swastikas does not define who Canadians are.” [more]
Swastikas, other hate symbols displayed at Canadian protest against COVID mandates
By Shira Hanau
30 January 2022
(JTA) — Swastikas and other symbols of hate were on display amid a sea of Canadian flags as part of the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” protests against vaccination mandates in Ottawa over the weekend.
The protests, which were organized by Canadian truckers in response to a vaccination mandate placed on truckers returning to Canada from the United States, took place Saturday and attracted thousands to Canada’s capital city. The protests featured a range of groups comparing vaccine mandates to fascism and displaying Canadian flags, and sometimes American flags, upside down. Many protesters held signs with profanity-filled messages for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Among the symbols displayed at the protests were swastikas and, in at least one instance, the Confederate flag.
A member of parliament from the Conservative party, Michael Cooper, went out to show support to the protesters and was interviewed by a Canadian news channel, as a protester with a Canadian flag covered in swastikas walked behind him.
Cooper later released a statement saying he did not know that the symbol was behind him and that if he had, he would have condemned it. “He or she does not represent the thousands of peaceful protesters who waved Canadian flags and acted responsibly. I stand with them and will continue to fight with them,” he wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.
Journalists who reported on the protests said they were subjected to hate speech and violence themselves, with one reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation being called a “slave blooded traitor” after asking for an interview with those organizing the protest. […]
Bruce Heyman, who served as the US ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017, condemned the displays of swastikas and other symbols of hate.
“Both the use of the swastika and the Confederate flag are symbols of extreme hate. So very sad to see these symbols anywhere and especially in Canada,” he wrote in a tweet. [more]
Swastikas, other hate symbols displayed at Canadian protest against COVID mandates
Very few people can embrace science fully. This likely includes the author of this blog. What does science tell us about free will? A complete acceptance of what science tells about ourselves, leads to the conclusion that human life is absurd. All of our compassionate “feelings” are chemically/hormonally based. All ethics are subjective and based on feelings. Science favors nihilism.