Both sides made serious planning mistakes which made the situation on the ground outright chaotic, to the perplexity of all observers.
Widespread confusion and misinformation largely contributed to the disappointing turnout at this Saturday’s edition of the Freedom Convoy, which at its peak attracted about 150 protesters wondering what was going on. And there was no point asking the police, because they were just as perplexed.
Much of this was to be expected; I myself wondered over the course of the week where the gathering would be, with news that there would be two convoys: one going north and another coming south—to say nothing of the perpetual no-show Bear Hug Convoy on the mainland—the latter which was supposed to circle around City Hall but ended up being diverted at Belleville Street away from Parliament (what?) by a police blockade that had been there all week. A rare few protesters gathered at Centennial Square expecting a convoy that never showed up.
I ended up chasing rumours of the convoy across town, only to come back almost empty-handed; I still managed to capture this picture:
As for the police response, it is perplexing in itself. Instead of having a convoy of honking trucks, Douglas Street had a convoy of local traffic trying to get through the blockades, and at some point the lineup made it as far north as Yates Street; that’s several blocks of cars trying to get through. I wonder which the James Bay residents prefer now: honking every Saturday afternoon for a couple hours, or putting up with checkpoints all week long. I swear the police countermeasures are more disruptive than the protesters.
There was still a march across Downtown, but less than a hundred took part, down from a thousand last week. They went up Government Street, then Johnson Street and down Douglas Street.
Let’s conclude with the importance of planning in protests. This fiasco was avoidable with a little thinking ahead, starting with a well-defined plan and proper communication. Having two Saturday convoys going opposite directions was a blunder, and so was not having a sound itinerary. Also, not making proper announcements online, or worse, making a flurry of vague and conflicting statements, only managed to confuse everybody. As for the Bear Hug Convoy, it obviously had no plan and no strategy, while getting people’s hopes up for nothing, which is counterproductive. Misinformation by authorities may have poured salt into the would, which emphasises the importance of having a proper tribune for announcements instead of relying on Facebook posts in public groups. Let’s hope the leaders of this movement will learn from their mistakes in order to avoid a repeat of this underwhelming performance.
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Although the event was a relative success, its outcome leaves me most apprehensive. Regretfully, we had to end it early.
