Canadian Farmers Slow Roll Through Ottawa In Solidarity With Dutch

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Canadian farmers are showing arm-in-arm solidarity with their Dutch counterparts as a “slow-roll” protest is set to wind it’s way through the streets of downtown Ottawa on Saturday. Of course, the media isn’t saying a whole lot about why this is happening but they are warning that the police have “zero tolerance for vehicle-based demonstrations or events within the city’s designated zone in the downtown core.

Support for starving farmers everywhere

On Saturday, July 23, a slow-roll protest “is scheduled to take place on roads in Ottawa and in cities across Canada,” the media grudgingly reports.

They have to tell everyone to expect snarled roads, they just don’t want to have to mention that the reason is “solidarity with farmers protesting new government environmental regulations in the Netherlands.” The grass roots Freedom Fighters Canada group organized Saturday’s protest. They issued a statement on their website declaring they’re “standing as one in solidarity with our Dutch brothers and sisters.

According to Canadian outlets, “several convoys” are expected to arrive in the capitol of Ottawa, “ahead of a 2 p.m. rally outside the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Albert Street.

Police are dosing heavily on anti-anxiety meds as they go around putting up the temporary “no stopping” signs. Officials think they can prevent the frustrated farmers from causing any trouble as long as they’re forced to keep moving. Vehicles, they warn, “will be ticketed and towed today.

The no-stopping signs have been placed in an area from Bronson Avenue in the west to the Rideau Canal in the east and Wellington Street in the north to Laurier Avenue in the south. Basically surrounding the seat of government.

Rainbow Sock wearing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might have to catch COVID and go into hiding again. Disgruntled farmers are advised by police, via Twitter, “There is zero tolerance for vehicle-based demonstrations or events within the city’s designated zone in the downtown core.

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Immediate police response

The heavy handed police go on to advise Canadian farmers that “Groups choosing not to respect these designated areas will be met with an immediate police response involving enforcement and comprehensive towing options.” They don’t want a replay of what happened last winter with the ticked-off truckers.

They also have a few reminders about the laws on farm equipment on the highways. Farmers across Europe have been fiercely protesting for weeks. In the Dutch Netherlands, they’re blocking food distribution warehouses and forcing supermarket shelves to go empty. There’s a total blackout on the news about it too.

Police went out of their way to remind angry farmers who might be thinking of dousing them with liquid fertilizer or setting hay bales on fire in the streets that there are “rules of the road for farm equipment.

In Ontario, they remind, “you cannot drive farm equipment on Highways like the 417 & 416 unless there is no other access to the farmland you are working on, and the land must adjoin to a 400-series Highway.” Just stay in your fields if you want to protest. That way nobody will be inconvenienced or offended. “You must take the shortest route possible if you use the highway to get to your land.

The website for Freedom Fighters Canada notes that “rallies are planned for Ottawa, Gatineau, Kingston, Brockville, Bancroft, Casselman, Russell, Smiths Falls, Cornwall and Renfrew County.” What that means is a “slow-roll” with “tractors, equipment and vehicles is scheduled to depart Brockville at 9:30 a.m., stop in Kemptville at 10:30 a.m. and arrive in Ottawa’s west end at 12 p.m.

Also, “another convoy is scheduled to depart Renfrew at 9:30 a.m., arriving in Arnprior at 10:30 a.m. and Ottawa’s west end at 12 p.m.” Everyone is supposed to meet up outside the Dutch Embassy. Now, the big question is whether anyone will cover it on TV. The organizers made it crystal clear to participants that “Convoy Etiquette” means “no blockading on any roads, exits, bridges or highways” during the event and “ensure flags are properly secured.

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