Hundreds attend anti-mandate rally in Halifax

Some 300 people attended another anti-restriction rally in the South end of Halifax Saturday, significantly smaller than another event the previous weekend.

A news release from Halifax Regional Police Saturday evening confirmed many of the attendees had come from elsewhere in the province.

“Several hundred vehicles started arriving in the downtown core of Halifax after travelling from across Nova Scotia starting around noon and into the afternoon,” read the release.

“Police officers were present throughout the area to keep the traffic flowing, and to promote public safety. Approximately three hundred protestors rallied at the Grand Parade throughout the afternoon.”

A poster shared on social media said vehicles would be arriving from Port Hastings, Yarmouth and Kingston.

Halifax Regional Police vehicles blocked traffic to prevented trucks from moving in.

Although noisy, the event was peaceful.

“I don’t support vaccine passports or mandates,” attendee Tim Best told CTV News.

“Because it creates two classes of citizen.”

At Peace and Friendship Park, where the event started, much of the frustration was directed toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Is he waiting for 100 per cent of the population to be vaccinated until we start living with COVID?”asked Lloyd Olsen.

Several protesters also directed frustration toward the media.

“You media are not going to show the world what’s really going on. You’re good at that,” said Chris Furlotte.

The park event morphed into a march, and headed to Grand Parade in front of City Hall.

“I stand behind all of our truckers and I just thank God that they had the courage to put together the organized event that they did,” said Theresa Vaters.

A small group of counter-protesters greeted the group when they arrived at Grand parade.

“You’re free as you want to support this rally but you should denounce the white supremacists,” said Jacob Fillmore.

Bill Stewart stood in Grande Parade with a sign telling protesters to go home and to support public health workers.

“It’s not about curtailing someone’s freedom. It’s about freeing things up so we can all get back to some freedom,” Stewart said.

At the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border, RCMP stopped vehicles to prevent a border blockade.

Cpl. Chris Marshall with Nova Scotia RCMP told CTV News police were asking motorists if they intended to protest and if they did, to head to the visitor information building and protest off the highway.

“Trying to ensure that we don’t get a backlog on the highway, we don’t end up causing extra congestion than there needs to be on the highway,” Cpl. Marshall said.

Cape Breton Regional Police were also dispatched to the ferry terminal in Sydney to prevent a blockade there.

Nova Scotia officially banned blockades of roads, streets and highways earlier this month.

On Monday, more restrictions will ease. The province introduced a three-phased re-opening plan spread out over 2-3 months. Masks and proof of vaccine are still required for at least the next two months.

“As long as we’re in a state of emergency people can get excited about moving to a different phase but actually they can put us right back,” protester Theresa Vaters said.

Elsewhere on the street, though, people were more supportive and optimistic.

“I think we need to cautiously walk into it and not abruptly stop anything,” Jane Machum.