the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ottawa, Canada, thousands of Canadian truckers and other protesters made their way to Ottawa on January 29 as part of a so-called “Freedom Convoy” to protest vaccine mandates and other public health measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rally originated in British Columbia the week prior and consisted of trucks and their supporters driving across the country to the nation’s capital. The original goal of the rally was to protest a mandate put in place on January 15 that required all unvaccinated cross-border truckers to quarantine upon returning home, but the message has since shifted to a general condemnation of all public health interventions. Media reported that people and vehicles clogged the streets of Ottawa making noise and bringing the city to a standstill, but the rally was “mostly peaceful”.
The “Freedom Convoy” rally has been shrouded in controversy since before the event. The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) directly opposed the rally and urged the public to be aware that many of the individuals who are speaking out have no direct connection to the trucking industry. Canadian government officials and the CTA also claim that approximately 90% of the nation’s truckers are already vaccinated and that the individuals participating in the rally represent a fringe minority group. The controversy began heating up when a GoFundMe for the rally raised C$5.5 million (US$4.3 million) in a short time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who is hiding at an undisclosed location after announcing this week he tested positive for COVID-19 and claimed he would not be intimidated by the protestors.
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced Saturday morning that he will work with the state’s attorney general to investigate GoFundMe after the company shut down a fundraiser for the Canadian truckers participating in the Freedom Convoy.
On twitter Governor Ron DeSantis said : It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing. I will work with @AGAshleyMoody to investigate these deceptive practices — these donors should be given a refund.
“The fundraising effort had raised C$10 million—around $7.9 million—and C$1 million had already been distributed to the organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy before GoFundMe took the decision to stop the fundraiser,” Newsweek reported. “GoFundMe initially announced on Friday it would refund contributions to anyone who applied and the remaining funds would be distributed to charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers and verified by the crowdfunding site.”
When first announcing it was shutting down the Freedom Convoy, GoFundMe told donors they would need to use a “dedicated refund form” to request their money back, otherwise the funds would be sent to a “credible and established” charity verified by GoFundMe. Which is illegal and is known as wire fraud . GoFundMe looked at the bank fees it would incur and decided to issue automatic refunds as a better way to go . Funny how some many BLM, “mostly peaceful” event fund raisers went unchallenged .
GoFundMe cited unspecified “evidence” that the protest was no longer peaceful to shut down the fund raiser . Sounding much like the fake “Steele dossier, ” , GoFundMe froze the account for discussions with the organizers, and a former “intelligence analyst” stated that the speed and anonymity of the donations raised red flags. The analyst also said there is clear activity from foreign countries on the GoFundMe page. Additionally add the “usually fake claims” , there are reports that some protestors espouse anti-Semitic and racist views and waved Nazi flags during the rally, defecated in the streets, harassed staff at a local homeless shelter, and at least one protester danced on Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Some protestors called for an attack on the Canadian Parliament similar to the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Peaceful Protest” is defined differently based on your point of view.
we need to shut down with extreme prejudice ACTUALLY PEACEFUL protests if they diverge from the party line!
You don’t mess with truckers, they deliver all our goods.
These vaxxines failed miserably. At best the do not prevent the speread of covid. At worst they kill and maim. They definitely make you more suseptable to catching it (makes sence due to destroyed immune system).
There is only one narrative that remains that makes sence – these globalist scum are really out to thin the herd. Look at every single govt, every single megacorporation doing exactly the same thing. And pay extra attention that the globalists themselves could care less about these rules, be it covid, climate change or anything else.
Its a big club, and YOU aint in it!
Just like those “mostly peaceful protests” in 2020 when our cities were in flames and we had no police areas declared. However, a bunch of crazies with horned helmets stormed the capitol and this was suddenly America’s darkest day.