21 infractions and one arrest on third day of Quebec City version of 'freedom convoy' protests

What started as a small group of trucks grew to include dozens of big rigs and thousands of people as the Quebec version of the ‘freedom convoy’ entered its third day in the provincial capital.

Large crowds joined the truckers on Rene-Levesque Blvd. near the National Assembly to denounce the province’s health measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

One arrest has been made as of Saturday evening, according to police. Around 8 p.m., a 31-year-old man was arrested for blocking the road, which was being reopened to traffic, with his pickup truck.

The vehicle was towed and the lane reopened.

11 fines were issued Saturday for violating the peace and another 10 were issued for violating road safety.

In one case a man was fined for an incident involving pyrotechnics, but no one was injured and he was not arrested. 

Police say 40 tickets were handed out on Friday, but that there were no major incidents. 

THOUSANDS IN THE CROWD 

Barricades put in place to control the crowd were pushed aside by protestors as more joined in.

“I’m here for them,” said a father of two attending the protest, pointing to his kids. “So they can start sports again. They don’t know what freedom is. We’re in chaos right now. We’ll continue demonstrating until we get our country back.”

Quebec City police (SPVQ) and the Surete du Quebec (SQ) were on hand to deliver tickets and ensure no one enters the National Assembly grounds. No tickets have been issued for this reason so far.

Although the roads surrounding the National Assembly were initially kept open with limited access, police have now closed them completely to keep the swelling crowd at bay, with officers in riot gear forming a line on the lawn.

Organizer Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier asked the protesters to remain peaceful and respect the police monitoring the event, and Quebec City mayor Bruno Marchand says that for the most part, the crowd has followed this directive.

“They’re doing it peacefully, there’s a lot of families right there. Everything is alright, people at the carnival are secure. It’s possible to do both at the same time. That’s what we were expecting. Everyone is acting respectfully so that’s perfect for now,” he said. 

It is the third day of protests in Quebec City following the lead of the major convoy in Ottawa that started a week ago, and joining others in Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Police in Ottawa say as many as 400 trucks and 2,000 people will join the crowd in their city this weekend.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Friday he was confident a trucker protest planned in Quebec City for the weekend against COVID-19 public health orders wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened in Ottawa.

Legault said demonstrators would not be permitted to park their cars and trucks around the legislature and cause traffic chaos, adding that there would be zero tolerance for citizens being impeded from moving about freely, as the Quebec Winter Carnival kicked off on Friday.

“We may have benefited from the experience of what happened in Ottawa,” Legault said. “We will not at all tolerate trucks preventing citizens from circulating.”  

A lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), a legal advocacy organization, was in Quebec City Saturday offering free legal counsel to protestors and will remain on site through Sunday.

The Alberta-based legal centre has been an outspoken opponent of Quebec’s proposed vaccine tax, which was scrapped earlier this week in the face of mounting criticism.  

With files from CTV's Ian Wood and Andrew Brennan.