Truck rally counter-protest organizers divided citing safety, community concerns

Ottawa’s counter-protest to the 'Freedom Rally' demonstration has been called off by one-half of its organization team citing safety concerns.

Reddit user ReclaimOttawa made the statement on an Instagram account on Friday, February 4.

“We understand your frustration in the cancellation of this protest and have received community feedback stating that many residents will still show up at City Hall at 2 p.m.,” another message said. “While we strongly discourage anyone from going downtown tomorrow, that does not mean we are not going to enact safety measures and provide resources for those still attending.”

Community activist group Horizon Ottawa also issued a statement earlier in the day to let residents know they do not support the counter-protest and are discouraging people from going downtown on Saturday, February 5.

Sam Hersh, board member of Horizon Ottawa, told CityNews close to 100 community members attended a meeting on Thursday, February 3 to discuss the cancellation.

“We understand there is also still an organizer of a sort of rogue counter-protest. That organizer was amongst many of us at a meeting last night but refused to listen to us and is still upholding this counter-protest,” said Hersh. “We're not saying that people shouldn't organize in their own way…but we should listen to folks in the community who are telling us why we shouldn't do this and why it might be exclusionary and why it might be more dangerous for some rather than others.”

The other organizer of Saturday's counter-protest, Mackenzie Demers told CityNews in a statement that their demonstration is still continuing at full capacity and they have secured medics as well as pro-bono lawyers.

“There is a large disinformation campaign led by a few vocal community leaders. My demonstration is still continuing at full capacity, and now we have legal services,” said Demers.

In an attempt to assist downtown residents, a citizen patrol started Friday morning led by city councillors Catherine McKenney, Shawn Menard, and Jeff Leiper will continue throughout the weekend.

Ottawa police said they will deploy 150 additional officers to neighbourhoods surrounding the convoy area this weekend to mitigate the impact of the demonstrations on residents.

In an update on Friday morning, Ottawa police mentioned they were expecting about 1,000 counter-protesters on Saturday when about 400 more trucks and up to 2,000 more convoy supporters are expected in the city.