Convoys planned throughout the Maritimes as police try to break up protests in Ottawa

As police plan to break up the trucker convoy in Ottawa, protesters in the Maritimes are planning more convoys and rallies.

Even with the Emergencies Act invoked, Nova Scotia RCMP are expecting much of the same. 

“Here we have this extra tool if we require it but we fully expect things will continue as they have been,” said Cpl. Chris Marshall with N.S. RCMP.

While protests across the country have blocked borders and bridges, that hasn’t happened in this region. 

Police pre-emptively went to the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick border last weekend in case it did.

Convoy organizers tell CTV News, that’s not their intent.

“We are not engaged in any illegal blockades. We are purely engaged in political advocacy,” said Ryan McKenna with Nova Scotians for Freedom.

The group is demanding governments drop restrictions and mandates even though restrictions already started to ease in Nova Scotia. They also say they want mandates requiring travellers and employees to be vaccinated gone.

“The main thing is the vaccine passports and the mandates,” he said.

Public health has long said they’re needed, arguing that vaccines are critical to preventing people from getting severe disease and saying a layer of restrictions are needed.

One of the organizers of the Ottawa occupation announced he’ll be heading to New Brunswick.

Police in Fredericton there say they’re monitoring plans for the weekend as another convoy is planned then.

Alex Khasnabish is a professor who studies social movements and radical politics. He was also a counter-protester in Halifax last weekend and believes these protests are more than just a call to end mandates.

“What we have is a mass radicalization event. That’s what’s happening here. It’s an attempt to upset people. Galvanize them over grievance. And then turn them to very particular political ends,” Khasnabish said. 

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said the nature of the protests in Nova Scotia have generally been peaceful.

“We continue to monitor the situation as we approach the weekend. Police will be enforcing the law,” Houston said.