[a-priori]

I was a resident of downtown Ottawa during this period. It was bad. We had a young kid and didn't feel even safe walking her to a park, because the route crossed over convoy lines and there were all sorts of stories of harassment and assaults. We didn't even experience the worst of it; lots of people dealt with truck horns blaring 24/7, but at least our street at least was kept clear as an emergency route.

We put up with the occupation for about two weeks, but we saw a steady escalation and decided to leave town. We stayed with family for two weeks until the convoy was cleared.

I'm very proud of the residents who were brave enough to put up a resistance (the so-called "Battle of Billings Bridge"), and I'm appalled by the response by the local police and the province. I absolutely believe the federal government made the correct choice, and this was proven out in the public hearing after the fact on the use of the Emergency Act.

[tsunamifury]

Its interesting how as of late the working-class's totally self-sabatoging ways of protesting almost universally piss off their fellow men and women, rather than taking their grievances to the powers that support them.

[AlexandrB]

All of the protests I see lately, besides strikes, are college students. Which working class protests are you thinking of?

[carlosjobim]

There's been massive popular protests in France, Germany and Great Britain in the past few years. Maybe in more countries? But they don't always get media coverage. One that you should have heard of is the yellow vest protests in France.

[xwolfi]

Im French, my anecdotal opinion is the same as the Canadian parent comment: they block and destroy, propose nothing realistic and end up pissing everyone off. I vote Macron as a result.

[tsunamifury]

basic hotel strikes around SF are focused on bullying customers

[rixed]

Aren't that the only forms of protest that are allowed?

If I remember properly, offering the service for free (for instance in public transport) bear the risk of being held personally responsible of any damage or accident that would happen to anyone (which is not unlikely if you factor in provocations)

[drekipus]

no one cares about how the food arrives to their plate, only that it's there.

[joemazerino]

Stories of harassment and assaults? Provide one source for any assault.

[mlekoszek]

Glad you asked.

* Pushing a reporter live on air: https://x.com/mylenecrete/status/1494874304814751744

* Beating a counter-protestor on camera: https://x.com/timabray/status/1488231660260839430?t=Bx4fGVxR...

* Attacking a shop employee for masking up on their way to work: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=23006638534070...

* Smashing windows of a business with a Pride flag: https://imgur.com/a/80bmPQ8

* Trying to handcuff shut the doors of an apartment building: https://x.com/gray_mackenzie/status/1492705868697198593

* Encouraging harassment of the lawyer leading the class action lawsuit against them: https://www.facebook.com/groups/217129079397701/permalink/62...

* Threatening public officials: https://www.ottawapolice.ca/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=7...

* Spamming emergency services so they could not be used: https://x.com/OttawaPolice/status/1491788988654383115

* Harassing children at an elementary school: https://pressprogress.ca/elementary-school-students-and-teac...

* Bomb threats against a children's hospital: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cheo-targeted-by-bomb-threat-monda...

* Pelting ambulances with rocks: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ambulances-pelted-...

These are just the things that were recorded, reported on, and archived with the links functioning three years later. Scroll up and you can read about what many of us saw in person. And yes, there's more where that came from. But it's much better to read from people who live in Ottawa and want to share their experiences: https://www.opc-cpo.ca/

[a-priori]

Thanks for the list! I can say that three of the stories I was referring to above are the ones listed as "Attacking a shop employee for masking up on their way to work", "Smashing windows of a business with a Pride flag" and "Trying to handcuff shut the doors of an apartment building".

The first and second happened only a couple blocks away from us, and we frequented both businesses, so it was infuriating to see them and their employers attacked like that. We lived in an apartment building so the third one was pretty alarming.

[joemazerino]

Thanks for the evidence.

[dennis_jeeves2]

Most of these are from the mainstream media. How about the truckers side of the story for each incident? For all you know it could be staged.

[blowsand]

Not sure which town got the prominent coverage, but here in America a lot of the coverage we saw looked like a peaceful presence, organized to allow emergency passage, and frequently we saw what looked like a fair - lots of families strolling through, eating food, adults and kids dancing, buying random things from vendors. We saw interviews with drivers who told their stories and said they were there to peacefully protest, as was their right. It’s one of the reasons, I think, that the actions by Trudeau seemed so disproportionate.

[tw04]

On what? Fox News? Because that wasn’t at all how it was portrayed by Klepper who actually took the time to be onsite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbmiKG56zuw

[bavell]

Here's [0] a muuuuch more balanced overview of the situation, the day after the ambassador bridge was opened.

[0] https://youtu.be/f7YIpSWqT0s?si=0DdPECPkBcU1AKKj

[catgary]

The convoy was largely funded by right wing American groups, so it’s not surprising they received favourable media coverage.

[mlekoszek]

A lot of the family-friendly stuff was specifically for the cameras. A few things I can speak to:

* It definitely wasn't peaceful -- activists and Ottawa residents documented numerous incidents of violence, harassment, threats, vandalism, and so on in Ottawa. This document compiles some of it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13-Zg8yjEPYyybbLy70njbWxG...

* Organizers encouraged participants to bring more children when it became clear police action was imminent, presumably to complicate law enforcement efforts. A Facebook post even suggested adding bouncy castles to "contribute to the fun" during these escalations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/17/freedom-conv...

* In the case of Ambassador Bridge, some reportedly put their children in front of the police. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/convoy-protests-total-ar...

* There’s academic discussion suggesting that children and family-friendly elements were intentionally brought in for PR and to slow the police response. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cag.12909?af=R

* Despite claims of peaceful protest, there were reports of ambulances being blocked or even pelted with rocks. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ambulances-pelted-...

* This is without getting into the hate speech. https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/CHPC/Brief/B...