OTTAWA, Ont. – Protesters continue to return to the Ottawa area and have set up camps on private land near the city. Another convoy from the east rolled into one of the camps Saturday.
The protesters are at two camps on the outskirts of the city. They are at 225 County Road 8, Cassleman, Ont., and 2041 Flos Road 4 West Phelpston, Ont. On social media they are using the hashtag #SaveCanada.
VIDEO: Watch as more protesters arrive at Ottawa camps over the weekend.
They say they are abiding by all laws and plan to stay until they are heard.
“It’s a little harder to deal with us this time,” said Ron Clark Freedom Advocate on a Facebook live stream Saturday. “We have every right to be heard.”
The protesters, who call themselves “freedom fighters,” go into Ottawa during the day and return to the camps in the evening. Two camps have been set up and they say a third is in the works.
Donations have been pouring into the camps in the form of food and money for gas.
“As you can see, we’re not leaving anytime soon. The people want us here. They want us here,” said Clark, adding that Ottawa residents have been thanking them for coming back.
VIDEO: Watch a video made by one of the protesters showing the massive amount of food donated to the protesters by Ottawa residents and others.
The camps are setting up large make-shift kitchens and building shelves to stock all of the food that is being donated. They are also building wooden platforms to get them away from the muddy ground. Several generators are at the camp to supply electricity to the fridges and other appliances.
Not everyone, however, is happy the protesters are back. Some Ottawa residents have taken to social media complaining the protesters have returned.
Clark has urged protesters not to honk on Wellington Street and to obey all bylaws and laws. Several protesters who were arrested during the February 2022 convoy have been ordered not go be closer than 500 metres of Parliament. Some protesters drew a chalk line on the sidewalk saying “500 metres.”
Last week a video of an elderly man being Tazered directly into his back by Ottawa police during a peaceful protest went viral. The video showed that the senior citizen – who has suffered from two heart attacks – was restrained and not resisting. Another woman in the crowd who refused to give her name to Ottawa police was grabbed and taken away by police. This may be considered "carding" by police. When a man tried to pull her back and help her, Ottawa police forced him to the ground.
The group of protesters from western Canada stopped in Regina for one night in late September on their way to Ottawa. Saskatchewan residents joined up with them and are camped out in Ottawa.
Currently at the camps outside of Ottawa, there are people from all across the country, with some even coming from the United States. A 79-year-old senior citizen named Diana from Kelowna, British Columbia, crossed Canada alone by herself to attend the Ottawa protests.
Many of the protesters are there for various issues, for everything from Save our Children to opposition of forced vaccination. One thing they say they agree on, however, is that they want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign. They say that the truckers were the victims during the convoy to Ottawa in February 2022.
One of the groups say they have a letter to the RCMP asking them to arrest Prime Minister Trudeau.
"We are now returning to demand that the RCMP arrest Prime Minister Trudeau for treason because of his unlawful violent vaccine mandates, and his unlawful use of force to break up the protest.”
The letter goes on to state that the police and the courts have found their protest to have been peaceful.
"Also, CSIS announced that the convoy protest did not meet the standards of a national security breach required by the Emergencies Act," it added. "These counterfeit emergency regulations infringed upon our basic human rights and our fundamental freedoms. We were beaten for no reason, our trucks were damaged and confiscated without legal cause or authorization, and many of us were criminally prosecuted with unreasonable bail conditions; all because we were exercising our inalienable right to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and association. We had an important public message and we protested peacefully in a symbolic location."
A small group of protesters was at the Parliament buildings on Saturday.
The protesters took a break on Sunday for Thanksgiving but are back at the Parliament buildings Monday. They are chanting in English "Freedom" and in French "Liberté." They are also singing 'O Canada.'
SASKTODAY.ca reached out to the federal public safety minister but didn’t get a response.
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