Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage
Toronto, Feb 1: In a scene at odds with Canadians' reputation for niceness and rule-following, thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.
Some urinated and parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.
In the aftermath of Canada's biggest pandemic protest to date, the demonstrators have found little sympathy in a country where more than 80% are vaccinated. Many people were outraged by some of the crude behaviour.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the Ottawa protesters a "fringe minority" and said they reflected the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation online, conspiracy theorists, about microchips, about God knows what else that go with the tinfoil hats .
Organisers, including one who has espoused white supremacist views, had raised millions for the cross-country freedom truck convoy against vaccine mandates. It attracted support from former US President Donald Trump and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.
Trudeau and his family were moved to an undisclosed location over during the protest. (Two of his children tested positive for COVID-19, and a test Monday revealed he, too, was infected. He said he is fine and working remotely.)
A smaller but still significant number of protesters remained on the streets on Tuesday.
You had your 15 minutes. Time to move on and give back our city to our residents, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said.
Those who stayed said they won't leave until all vaccine mandates and other restrictions are gone. They are calling for the removal of Trudeau's government, though it is responsible for few of the measures, most of which were put in place by provincial governments.
Protester Michelle Kloet, 47, of Canmore, Alberta, tried to clean up some of the mess left behind, picking up empty liquor bottles and beer cans. She said she was there because it's time for Canada and the rest of the world to find other ways to deal with this virus .
During the demonstration, the statue of Terry Fox, a national hero who lost a leg to bone cancer as a youngster and set off in 1980 on a fundraising trek across Canada, was draped with an upside-down Canadian flag and a sign that read "Mandate freedom .
My kids were shocked. Like all Canadian young people, they have grown up with Terry Fox as a hero, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said. This is not the Canada who we want to be. And I really proudly believe, and I know, this is not what Canada is.
Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was extremely disturbed to see people desecrate our most sacred monuments and wave swastikas and other symbols of hate and intolerance".
The outburst was seen as so out of character for Canada that one US scientist felt compelled to apologise for what he portrayed as America's influence.
Canada gave us kindness, tolerance, poutine and hockey, and in turn we exported this awful fake health freedom movement linked to far right extremism that caused so much senseless loss of life in America and now might do the same there, tweeted Dr Peter Hotez, an infectious-disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Our apologies.
Many of the demonstrators refused to wear masks in hotels, malls and grocery stores. One homeless shelter reported protesters had demanded it feed them.
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said several investigations are underway and a tip line for hate crimes, threats and assaults related to the demonstration has been set up. Sloly said one person had been arrested in connection with the protest.
Tim Abray, a PhD candidate, said he was assaulted by so-called freedom fighters while taking pictures of the protest in his neighbourhood.
The most visible contingent of protesters were truckers who parked their big rigs on Parliament Hill, though they were a minority of the thousands who turned out.
Some of the truckers were protesting a rule that took effect Jan 15 requiring those entering Canada to be fully immunised against the coronavirus. The US has imposed the same requirement on incoming truck drivers, so it would make little difference if Canada lifted its rule.
Some opposition Conservative lawmakers attended the protest, and Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole, who is facing a revolt among his lawmakers, met with some of the truckers.
Phil Haggart, a counter-protester, said he was there to show that there are voices in favour of public health measures.
Masks are important, vaccines are important, and mandates are important only because we need them to stay alive and not fill our hospitals up, he said.
A surge of the highly contagious omicron variant has led to record cases and lockdowns in Ontario and Quebec, Canada's most populous provinces. But restaurants reopened Monday with 50% capacity, and vaccine mandates imposed by the provincial governments remain in place.
Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said the misinformation rabbit hole in Canada is not as deep as it is in the US for many reasons, including less political polarisation north of the border.
This leads to much less sympathy for or tolerance of the unvaccinated among Canadians. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could not get very far in Canada. A Donald Trump would be shunned, even in Conservative Party circles, Wiseman said.
The protesters in Ottawa have not aided their cause as the demonstration drags on, he added.
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PIL in SC seeking action against racial violence targeting northeastern citizens
New Delhi (PTI): A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention to address the "continuing constitutional failure" to prevent and respond to racial discrimination and violence against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions.
The PIL was filed on December 28 in the backdrop of the brutal killing of Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura, who succumbed on December 27 to grievous injuries sustained in a racially motivated attack in Selaqui area of Dehradun.
Anjel from Unakoti district's Machmara went to Dehradun after completing his graduation in Holy Cross School, Agartala, to pursue MBA, where he was stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother Michael.
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The family members of Chakma want capital punishment or at least life imprisonment for all the accused involved in the incident. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, a Delhi-based lawyer, has made the Centre and all the states and Union territories as parties to the PIL.
"That the present writ petition is being filed seeking issuance of writ under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus, order, direction or any other appropriate writ for the violation of fundamental rights as under article 14, 19 (1) a & (g) and 21, and thus seeking judicial intervention to address the issue of racial discrimination and violence against Indian citizens from the north-eastern states and other frontier regions of India," the plea said.
"We are Indians. What certificate should we show to prove that?" words that tragically became the last recorded assertion of Anjel Chakma about his constitutional belonging before the confrontation escalated into brutal violence, it said while recounting the offence leading to his death.
The plea referred to media reports about Chakma's death.
The attackers allegedly assaulted and stabbed both brothers and Chakma sustained severe injuries to his neck and spine, remained unconscious throughout his treatment, and died after more than fourteen days in intensive medical care, it said, adding his death triggered widespread anguish, protests, and demands for justice across the country.
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"Issue an appropriate writ (ad interim till a legislation is made) in the nature of formulating comprehensive guidelines, recognising 'racial slur' as a separate category of hate crimes and determining punishment for the same," the plea said.
It sought a direction to the Centre and the states to create a "nodal agency or a permanent body or commission or directorate" at the central level as well as at the level of each state where such racial crimes can be reported and redressed.
"Direct the respondents at central level as well as at the level of each state to make and create a dedicated special police unit in each district/metropolitan area to address the racial crimes," it said.
The plea sought a direction to the Centre and the states to organise "workshops and debates at educational institutes on the issue of prevailing racial discrimination and ways to redress the same".
The petition said that despite the unmistakable hate-based and racial motivation behind the crime, India's criminal justice system lacks any mechanism to recognise or record racial bias at the initial stage of investigation.
As a result, such offences are treated as ordinary crimes, "erasing motive, diluting constitutional gravity, and perpetuating a pattern of impunity", it said.
The plea said that the killing of Chakma is not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing pattern of racial abuse and violence against citizens from the northeastern states.
The petition recalls earlier cases, including the death of Nido Taniam in 2014 and numerous assaults on students and workers in metropolitan cities, incidents that have been formally acknowledged by the Centre in parliamentary replies but, according to the petitioner, remain unaddressed through any dedicated legislative or institutional framework.
