Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage

Protesters gather near Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday. Pic/AP

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 had raised millions for the cross-country "freedom truck convoy" against vaccine mandates. It was suported by former U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

Some protesters remained on the streets on Tuesday, saying they won't leave until all vaccine mandates and restrictions are gone. They are also want the removal of Trudeau's government, though it is responsible for few measures, most of which were put in place by provincial governments. 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." 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."

‘Ease measures in steady, slow way

The World Health Organization has called on countries that are starting to lift Covid-19 measures to do so in a steady and slow way, as recent data has shown a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths around the world. "Since the Omicron variant was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 million cases have been reported to the WHO, more than in 2020. We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Virus enters Tonga with disaster aid

Tonga was to enter a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the nation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami.

19,13,949
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

37,64,78,335
Total no. of cases worldwide

56,66,064
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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