An elderly man was cuffed and arrested in Ottawa for honking his horn in support of demonstrators on Sunday, a day before a judge outlawed honking, as protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates rage on in the Canadian capital.
A bystander filmed while two officers pulled over Gerry Charlebois, 78, for beeping his horn.
‘What did he do wrong?’ the bystander asked. ‘None of your f****** concern, man,’ one officer responded.
Officers went back and forth with onlookers and Charlebois. Eventually, an officer in a blue surgical mask grabbed Charlebois and tried to restrain him, bringing the vaccinated great-grandfather down to his knees in the middle of the street before handcuffing him against his van.
An Ontario Superior Court Justice temporarily banned honking and air horn blowing for 10 days on Monday, responding to a lawsuit from a downtown resident who measured the noise in her apartment at more than 80 decibels during the protests, which began on January 29.
The daily demonstrations, going on day 11, began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers who enter the country by land, but has since expanded to call for the dismantling of nearly all COVID-related restrictions.
They intensified on Tuesday, when demonstrators blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario – the busiest border crossing between the US and Canada that carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries.
Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party, resigned Tuesday after accusing the prime minister of dividing the people of Canada, saying the federal government’s pandemic response has become ‘politicized’ and ‘divisive.’
During an emergency debate in the House of Commons Monday night, Trudeau said the protests have to ‘stop’ and criticized those taking part in them as ‘a few people shouting and waving swastikas.’
Gerry Charlebois, 78, was brought to his knees and arrested in Ottawa on Sunday for allegedly honking his horn, a day before a judge outlawed honking in the city
‘What did he do wrong?’ a bystander asked. ‘None of your f****** concern, man,’ one officer responded
The officer admitted that the man was being stopped because he honked his horn as the city deals with days of ongoing protests, led by truckers, against COVID restrictions
Vehicles displaying protest signs are seen outside Parliament Hill, as demonstrations by truckers and their supporters against COVID vaccine mandates continue in Ottawa
Daily demonstrations, going on day 11, began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers who enter the country by land. Pictured: Police man a barricade in front of vehicles parked as part of the trucker protest on Tuesday in Ottawa
Roughly 50,000 Canadian truck drivers have showed up in Ottawa to protest against the prime minister’s new vaccine mandates and quarantine rules for drivers
Pick-up trucks and other smaller vehicles, above on Thursday, February 3, have joined the rally, displaying flags and picket signs reading: ‘Freedom’ and ‘No mandates’
The massive cavalcade of trucks, pickups, and other vehicles has been wreaking havoc on downtown Ottawa since last weekend, deliberately blocking traffic and honking their horns almost non-stop around Parliament Hill
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week he will not be meeting with truckers currently overrunning Ottawa in protest of his vaccine mandate. At the House of Commons on Monday, he called the protesters ‘a few people shouting and waving swastikas’
In the six minute video posted to Youtube, a bystander films two police officers before and after they arrest Gerry Charlebois, who was accused of honking the horn of his van in violation of a recent court ruling meant to quell the protests.
‘I meant no harm,’ Charlebois told the Toronto Sun in an interview Tuesday. ‘I just gave the trucker a thumbs-up and a honk.’
In the video, the bystander filming is heard criticizing the officer for following the ruling and encouraging Charlebois to not give out his information.
‘You don’t have to answer his questions, sir,’ he tells Charlebois. He then tells the officer, ‘You’re abusing old men.’
The officer and Charlebois then walk back toward the trunk of the van.
‘Because I tooted the horn,’ Charlebois begins.
‘That is why you’re pulled over,’ the officer states.
‘It’s called communism. It’s communism. You don’t have to show anything. You didn’t do anything wrong,’ the man behind the camera continues.
The officer tells the man recording that it’s an offense to beep the horn.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean granted a 10-day injunction the next day banning horn honking and air horn blowing.
‘The only purpose of this (horn blowing) is to bring attention to this protest,’ McLean said. ‘There’s no need for that anymore. The public is fully aware of what’s going on.’
In a six minute video posted on YouTube, the man filming is heard criticizing the officers for following the ruling and encouraging the elderly man to not give out his information
‘This is b******. Communist f****** police,’ a bystander yells as police arrest a man for honking in Ottawa on Sunday, a day before a judge outlawed honking, as protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates continue
Crowds gather outside the Parliament building on Thursday, February 3. More protestors are expected to descend upon Ottawa this weekend, several area hotels and restaurants have closed for the next week in anticipation of further protests
Some participants were seen driving around downtown Ottawa with flags reading: ‘F**k Trudeau’ and ‘Vaxx pass up your a**!’
The injunction was in response to a lawsuit by downtown resident Zexi Li, 21. Her lawyer, Paul Champ, said the level of noise measured in her apartment was akin to ‘having a lawn mower running in her living room, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’ according to the Ottawa Citizen.
The $9.8 million class action lawsuit is open to up to 6,000 downtown residents who live in or near the protest’s ‘red zone.’
As the officer waits for Charlebois to show his ID on Sunday, Charlebois turns around to walk away.
That’s when the officer grabs him by the arm and twists him, causing him to fall on one knee on the asphalt. He gets up and the officer presses him against his vehicle.
Charlebois is then walked back to the patrol car.
He was given a $118 ticket for ‘unnecessary noise,’ according to the Toronto Sun. While he wasn’t arrested, he sustained injuries to his arms, hands, shoulders and knees.
The bystander behind the camera yells, ‘They represent Trudaeu and the police chief, Sloly! That’s what they represent. Hate, division. You are not protecting and serving nobody.
A judge banned honking in Ottawa in response to a lawsuit by aggrieved downtown resident Zexi Li, 21. The $9.8 million class action lawsuit is open to up to 6,000 downtown residents who live in or near the protest’s ‘red zone’
‘This is b******. Communist f****** police,’ the man continues to yell.
‘I was in shock,’ Charlebois told the Toronto Sun. ‘When (the police) pulled me over, he told me I was in trouble for honking the horn.’
Charlebois said he drove to the area to look at the trucks and planned on parking his van and walking to Parliament Hill.
‘That’s why I put my wallet in the back of the van,’ he said. ‘I was hoping to go in there, but when I got there I saw all of the commotion. I decided it was too much so I just looked from the van and then started to head home.’
Though he was at the protest in support of other demonstrators, he says he’s fully vaccinated and plans to get his booster shot soon.
‘He’s just 4 foot 10,’ said his son Steve, who added that they may have to take his dad to the hospital for an X-ray for his shoulder.
‘He wouldn’t hurt anybody.’
Another son, Gerald, said: ‘They didn’t seem to arrest any of those big truckers like that.’
‘I find it disgusting. There was no need to be so rough with him,’ he added.
On Monday, Prime Minister Trudeau addressed the ongoing Ottawa protests during an emergency debate in the House of Commons.
‘It has to stop,’ he said, according to the Independent.
‘People of Ottawa don’t deserve to be harassed in their own neighborhoods, don’t deserve to be confronted with the inherent violence of a swastika flying on a street corner, or a confederate flag, or the insults and jeers just because they’re wearing a mask. That’s not who Canadians are,’ the prime minister said. ‘These pandemic restrictions are not forever.’
He added: ‘This is a story of a country that got through this pandemic by being united, and a few people shouting and waving swastikas does not define who Canadians are.’
Trudeau declared last week that he will not be meeting with truckers currently overrunning Ottawa in protest of his vaccine mandate because of their ‘hateful rhetoric.’
‘Over the past few days, Canadians were shocked and frankly, disgusted by the behavior displayed by some people protesting in our nation’s capital,’ Trudeau said on January 31 in a public press conference broadcasted remotely, referring to the unrest in Ottawa.
Trudeau, 50, held the conference from isolation at an undisclosed location after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier that day. Two of the prime minister’s three children also tested positive for the virus.
When asked whether he was going to meet the protesters, Trudeau said he had no interest in going ‘anywhere near protests that have expressed hateful rhetoric and violence towards their fellow citizens.’
The politician went on to assert that he had personally attended protests himself when he ‘agreed with the goals’ being fought for, such as those championed by Black Lives Matter, but dismissed the truckers’ dissent – which was spurred by the politico’s own policies – as ‘racist’ and ‘violent.’
‘I have attended protests and rallies in the past when I agreed with the goals, when I supported the people expressing their concerns and their issues,’ Trudeau said.
‘But I have also chosen to not go anywhere near protests that have expressed hateful rhetoric, violence towards fellow citizens, and a disrespect not just of science, but of the frontline health workers and quite frankly, the 90 per cent of truckers who have been doing the right thing to keep Canadians safe to put food on our tables.
Long-haul truck driver Guy Meister (pictured) is among the truckers who joined the ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Ottawa last week after making a 20-hour journey in his big rig from Nova Scotia, and plans to keep protesting until the mandates are scrapped
Nathan (Jacko) Jack waves flags in front of trucks that are parked in front of Parliament Hill at a rally against COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, January 31
The decision to move the prime minister Saturday came after the sergeant-at-arms of the Canadian Parliament warned that protesters might show up at the homes of politicians
Trucks participating in the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest against Trudeau’s vaccine mandates carry hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods meant to be transported throughout the country and to the US. Participating trucks have been there, parked, for days – many since Saturday
The movement received an endorsement last week from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk , who tweeted, ‘Canadian truckers rule’ and the movement has become a cause celebre for many on the right in the United States
Flying the Canadian flag, waving banners demanding ‘Freedom’ and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the truckers were joined by thousands of other protesters angered not only by COVID-19 restrictions but by broader discontent with the government
There was an enormous clamor as hundreds of big trucks, their engines rumbling, sounded their air horns non-stop
‘I want to be very clear, we are not intimidated by those who hurl insults and abuse at small business workers, and steal food from the homeless. We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. We won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonor the memory of our veterans.’
He added: ‘Freedom of expression, assembly, and association are cornerstones of democracy. But Nazi symbolism, racist imagery, and desecration of war memorials are not. It is an insult to memory and truth. Hate can never be the answer.’
Trudeau then called on the protesting truckers – and the thousands supporting them – to put a halt to their actions.
‘There is no place in our country for threats, violence or hatred,’ he asserted.
‘So for those responsible for this behavior, it needs to stop. To anyone who joined the convoy and was rightly uncomfortable with the symbols of hatred and division on display, join with your fellow Canadians. Be courageous, and speak out. Do not stand for, or with, intolerance and hate.’
Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 miles west, hundreds more protesting truckers had convened at the southernmost point of the province of Alberta, forming a blockade between the territory and the US state of Montana to the south.
On Tuesday, Canadian lawmakers expressed increasing worry about the economic effects of the demonstrations after the busiest border crossing between the US and Canada became partially blocked by truckers protesting vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
Trucks and other vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, on Tuesday, February 8, as truckers and their supporters continue to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandate
Trucks blocked traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing to the United States. By Tuesday morning, Windsor Police said in a tweet that one lane of U.S.-bound traffic is open and can be accessed via Wyandotte Street West
The owner of the bridge, the Detroit International Bridge Co, said international commerce on the bridge needed to resume. Canada sends 75 percent of its goods exports to the United States, and the bridge usually handles around 8,000 trucks a day
One lane from Canada into the United States opened Tuesday morning, but the US side remains closed
The blockade at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, prevented traffic from entering Canada while some US-bound traffic was still moving, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said.
He called the bridge ‘one of the most important border crossings in the world.’
It carries 25 percent of all trade between Canada and the United States.
Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said such blockades will have serious implications on the economy and supply chains.
‘I’ve already heard from automakers and food grocers. This is really a serious cause for concern,’ he said in Ottawa.
Added Mendicino: ‘Most Canadians understand there is a difference between being tired and fatigued with the pandemic and crossing into some other universe.’
Speaking in an emergency debate late Monday in Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the protesters are ‘trying to blockade our economy, our democracy.’
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