Police aware of trucker protest planned for Toronto this weekend
Toronto police say that they are aware of a planned trucker protest against vaccine mandates set for the city this weekend and are monitoring the situation.
A flyer circulating on social media suggests that a Toronto "Convoy for Freedom" demonstration will take place at Queen's Park, beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
Organizers are asking supporters to show up at one of seven Greater Toronto Area meeting points before making their way downtown.
CP24 has reached out to those behind the event for comment but has not heard back.
“The service will have a policing operation in place to ensure public safety and keep emergency access routes to hospitals clear,” Toronto police said in a statement provided to CP24 on Wednesday afternoon. “Over the coming days we will continue to liaise with organizers and partner agencies. Any updates, including disruption to travel, will be communicated to the public at the earliest opportunity.”
News of the planned demonstration comes as a convoy of truckers and their supporters continue to protest vaccine mandates at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The demonstrators have been parked illegally on roads leading to Parliament Hill since Friday, causing gridlock throughout the core. There have also been reports that some of them have engaged in threats and harassment. Three participants have been charged criminally.
Speaking with CP24 on Wednesday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said that individuals do have the right to protest but he said that he is hopeful that the Queen's Park event will not have the same "extremist" rhetoric that has been associated with the rally in Ottawa.
Police in Ottawa have previously said that they have seen “multiple cases of disruptive, inappropriate and threatening behaviour from demonstrators.”
“All I can hope is that what we don't see this kind of extremist, you know, sort of activities and statements that can border on and be actually sort of hateful in their nature,” he said. “You just hope that those who are protesting, you know, sort of have a measure of common sense and consideration for others in exercising their rights.”
The protesters in Ottawa have vowed to remain in the area for an extended period, unless governments scrap all public health measures.
So far a number of politicians have urged the protestors to go home, including Premier Doug Ford who during a press conference on Tuesday pled with them to “let the people of Ottawa live their lives.”
Speaking with CP24, Tory said that he hopes anyone who chooses to participates in this weekend’s demonstration is “considerate” of others, which would include ensuring the “duration of the protest is reasonable within the context of the impact it has on other people.”
The Ottawa protest is in its fifth day, though police have said that crowds have thinned considerably.
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