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> except someone talked about a few things that I don’t believe are true: truckers were violent, few Canadians supported them, etc. - I think those things are n

> except someone talked about a few things that I don’t believe are true: truckers were violent, few Canadians supported them, etc. - I think those things are not true. Have you sought out the information on whether it is or not, or just decided it wasn't? Re: violence: The scariest to me personally was someone attempting to start a fire in a building nearby to the convoy while duct taping the doors shut.[1] Depending on your threshold for violence, the numbers could vary greatly, from a handful to several hundred.[2][3] Regarding polling, there were a number of polls showing they didn't have broad support, especially as time went on.[4] [1]: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-investigating-attempted-arson-in-centretown-high-rise-1.5771579 https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-investigating-attemp... [2]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/hate-crime-hotline-ottawa-protests-1.6334163 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/hate-crime-hotline-ott... [3]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13-Zg8yjEPYyybbLy70njbWxGeYELQ3Q3PT2Vph0XKQM/mobilebasic https://docs.google.com/document/d/13-Zg8yjEPYyybbLy70njbWxG... [4]: https://angusreid.org/trudeau-convoy-trucker-protest-vaccine-mandates-covid-19/ https://angusreid.org/trudeau-convoy-trucker-protest-vaccine...

34679 5y ago
With a large enough gathering of people, for a long enough time, there will always be some violence. That doesn't necessarily make the gathering violent and it doesn't mean the organizers had violent intentions. I've watched a few live streams from people just walking around, talking to protesters at the event and none depicted any violent acts of any kind. There also weren't any swastikas or rebel flags that I could see in the huge crowds. This leads me to believe the incidents that did occur were isolated and not representative of the group as a whole.
- BeefWellington 5y ago
  Anyone claiming this was a "peaceful protest" is I think at this point choosing to ignore the mountain of evidence to the contrary. Separately, at what point does a protest cease to be peaceful? What percentage of bad apples would satisfy you that this wasn't a peaceful protest? 1%? 10%? 50%? I'm curious because you can make that argument about pretty much any protest/disruption.
  - catgary 5y ago
    The protest was organized by white supremacists calling for the dissolution of a democratically elected government! Convoy protestors in Alberta were arrested with conspiracy to attempt murder! The discussion on hacker news has been insane.
    - zthrowaway 5y ago
      You are spewing absolute propaganda. Pure insanity.
  - 34679 5y ago
    I don't believe there's a specific percentage, but for reference, I also believe the BLM protests were mostly peaceful, and I have plenty of video downloaded showing buildings burning and police cruisers being destroyed. Most of the BLM violence that occurred was initiated by police attempting to clear public spaces, including roads. A crowd of people intent on harming others would be violent. I haven't seen any evidence that either protest included such crowds, police excepted.
- catgary 5y ago
  The organizers of the protest were all different varieties of white supremacists, and their explicit goal was the dissolution of our democratically elected government.
refurb 5y ago
Are you just blaming any and all crime that happened during the protest on the protestors and thus inferring the entire movement is violent? I mean the only thing connecting your first link to the protest was it happened in the same part of the city. That's it. No other evidence. If a guy beats his wife at home do you blame that on the convoy too? Seems like a smear campaign.
- BeefWellington 5y ago
  > Are you just blaming any and all crime that happened during the protest on the protestors and thus inferring the entire movement is violent? This is a pretty useless and disrespectful response for a few reasons. Firstly, it's pretty obvious from the links and the locations things happened that these were directly related to the convoy or at least convoy adjacent. Secondly, I don't doubt that there were nonviolent people involved, I saw many of them via livestreams. I've posted elsewhere that I think if the Convoy wanted to still be protesting today their goal should have been to avoid picking a fight with residents and instead focus on the government itself. The saying goes, one bad apple spoils the bunch. I think it's highly applicable to what happened here. The word on the street regarding the building arson attempt was that people in the building were blaring music and shouting stuff at the convoy protesters who were parked in the streets below their apartment building. That was just the first such incidence during the convoy. During a separate day some people were attempting to handcuff a door shut[1] but fled the scene once they were confronted. There have been no other recorded incidents of this behaviour in Ottawa that I can find anywhere, ever. It would be a leap to assume this is just coincidental. But let's assume it's just some anarchist being opportunistic, what about the literal mountain of other information provided? [1]: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/mcleod-street-condo-residents-rattled-after-men-seen-attempting-to-handcuff-lobby-doors https://ottawacitizen.com/news/mcleod-street-condo-residents...
  - refurb 5y ago
    Please quote the exact "mountain of evidence" in your link about the arson case. All I see relevant to the convoy is the quote "when a group of men they believed to be convoy demonstrators". Ok, so they believed they were a part of the convoy. That's it? If there is no other evidence in the arson case, then like I said it's nothing more than a smear campaign.
TigeriusKirk 5y ago
The arson link provided says "At this time, there is nothing linking the incident to the ongoing demonstration" Has that changed?
- BeefWellington 5y ago
  That's unclear. The arson unit is investigating is all I've seen and can't find any updated articles on it.

34679 5y ago

With a large enough gathering of people, for a long enough time, there will always be some violence. That doesn't necessarily make the gathering violent and it doesn't mean the organizers had violent intentions. I've watched a few live streams from people just walking around, talking to protesters at the event and none depicted any violent acts of any kind. There also weren't any swastikas or rebel flags that I could see in the huge crowds. This leads me to believe the incidents that did occur were isolated and not representative of the group as a whole.

BeefWellington 5y ago
Anyone claiming this was a "peaceful protest" is I think at this point choosing to ignore the mountain of evidence to the contrary. Separately, at what point does a protest cease to be peaceful? What percentage of bad apples would satisfy you that this wasn't a peaceful protest? 1%? 10%? 50%? I'm curious because you can make that argument about pretty much any protest/disruption.
- catgary 5y ago
  The protest was organized by white supremacists calling for the dissolution of a democratically elected government! Convoy protestors in Alberta were arrested with conspiracy to attempt murder! The discussion on hacker news has been insane.
  - zthrowaway 5y ago
    You are spewing absolute propaganda. Pure insanity.
- 34679 5y ago
  I don't believe there's a specific percentage, but for reference, I also believe the BLM protests were mostly peaceful, and I have plenty of video downloaded showing buildings burning and police cruisers being destroyed. Most of the BLM violence that occurred was initiated by police attempting to clear public spaces, including roads. A crowd of people intent on harming others would be violent. I haven't seen any evidence that either protest included such crowds, police excepted.
catgary 5y ago
The organizers of the protest were all different varieties of white supremacists, and their explicit goal was the dissolution of our democratically elected government.

refurb 5y ago

Are you just blaming any and all crime that happened during the protest on the protestors and thus inferring the entire movement is violent? I mean the only thing connecting your first link to the protest was it happened in the same part of the city. That's it. No other evidence. If a guy beats his wife at home do you blame that on the convoy too? Seems like a smear campaign.

BeefWellington 5y ago
> Are you just blaming any and all crime that happened during the protest on the protestors and thus inferring the entire movement is violent? This is a pretty useless and disrespectful response for a few reasons. Firstly, it's pretty obvious from the links and the locations things happened that these were directly related to the convoy or at least convoy adjacent. Secondly, I don't doubt that there were nonviolent people involved, I saw many of them via livestreams. I've posted elsewhere that I think if the Convoy wanted to still be protesting today their goal should have been to avoid picking a fight with residents and instead focus on the government itself. The saying goes, one bad apple spoils the bunch. I think it's highly applicable to what happened here. The word on the street regarding the building arson attempt was that people in the building were blaring music and shouting stuff at the convoy protesters who were parked in the streets below their apartment building. That was just the first such incidence during the convoy. During a separate day some people were attempting to handcuff a door shut[1] but fled the scene once they were confronted. There have been no other recorded incidents of this behaviour in Ottawa that I can find anywhere, ever. It would be a leap to assume this is just coincidental. But let's assume it's just some anarchist being opportunistic, what about the literal mountain of other information provided? [1]: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/mcleod-street-condo-residents-rattled-after-men-seen-attempting-to-handcuff-lobby-doors https://ottawacitizen.com/news/mcleod-street-condo-residents...
- refurb 5y ago
  Please quote the exact "mountain of evidence" in your link about the arson case. All I see relevant to the convoy is the quote "when a group of men they believed to be convoy demonstrators". Ok, so they believed they were a part of the convoy. That's it? If there is no other evidence in the arson case, then like I said it's nothing more than a smear campaign.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago

The arson link provided says "At this time, there is nothing linking the incident to the ongoing demonstration" Has that changed?

BeefWellington 5y ago
That's unclear. The arson unit is investigating is all I've seen and can't find any updated articles on it.