Ottawa residents are planning an “unwanted party” on Friday to send a message to the Rolling Thunder Ottawa motorcycle convoy.
“We can’t leave it at that,” said Brian Latour, one of the rally’s organizers.
Public Solidarity Ottawa (CSO), a coalition of NGOs, organized the event. The group launched during the Freedom Convoy earlier this year.
The Junk Party is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Strathcona Park in Sandy Hill. It will include a rally and a procession.
Latour says he is disappointed that the residents of the Center have to face another convoy.
“I feel very nervous and I know there are people who have it more than me,” Latour said.
The CSO says they wanted to do something to send a message to the Rolling Thunder rally that they were not welcome in Ottawa. The event also aims to demonstrate publicly how much disturbance the convoys had on the residents of the Center.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Latour expressed concern about the convoy of motorcyclists’ links to the far-right figure Chris Skye Sacocha. The Rolling Thunder website says that there will be a rally and a procession on Parliament Hill on Saturday with “special guest speaker Chris Skye”. He is the only person listed on the route. Rolling Thunder organizers have denied contact with Sky.
Latour says: “There is also the wider threat that these convoy movements pose. These are very far-right movements with anti-democratic views on conspiracy theory. We are concerned about these impacts, disruptions to our community. “
Latour says the unwanted party took place just before the convoy was expected to arrive in the capital.
“I hope it sends the message that hatred and far-right politics are not tolerated in our communities, I hope it sends the message that Ottawa will not stand idly by and be zero,” Latour said.
Resident Katie Varet says she plans to attend the “unwanted party” to support her community and fight hatred.
“We need to make our community a hate-free zone,” Varet said.
“It’s horrible that it’s coming, it’s horrible to come again and we have to stop this. I’m for the right to protest, but this is not a protest – this is terrorism, we are afraid.”
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