Demonstrators gather outside Parliament House on January 31, 2022 (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Parliament House was swarming with protesters yesterday afternoon in what looked like a local chapter of the so-called Freedom Convoy in Canada, a movement sparked by new restrictions on truckies driving in North America. The only thing missing in Canberra’s protest was truckies. 

The raucous crowd was mostly made up of the same people who turn up to every anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine rally. ACT Police held the line at first, but relented after a while so protesters could approach Parliament House and demand someone acknowledge their demands. It’s unclear who exactly, considering Parliament doesn’t resume until February 8. 

To understand the latest chapter in Australia’s misinformed movement, we can go back to where it all began.

Canada’s progressive government has been slowly inching forwards with vaccine mandates. These days you can’t get on a train or plane in the vast country without having had a double dose. But some have accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of overreach, with a rule introduced in mid-January requiring truck drivers to be either vaccinated or quarantine for two weeks if they travel into the United States on their routes.

In protest against this, a loose coalition of truckies and conservative groups got together to organise a cross-country freedom convoy, setting off from Vancouver and bound for the nation’s capital, Ottawa. Social media followings and news coverage got the attention and support of celebrities like controversial podcaster Joe Rogan, Donald Trump Jr, British comedian Russell Brand and even Elon Musk, who tweeted “Canadian truckers rule” late last week.

Soon a GoFundMe had raised a hefty A$10.2 million. The page declares the government is implementing rules and mandates that are “destroying the foundation of our businesses, industries and livelihoods” and promises to give all money raised to drivers for fuel, food and accommodation. 

But the so-called Freedom Convoy’s demands have gone far beyond the new rule, which affects only about 12,000 unvaccinated truckies countrywide. Just like in Canberra, the Canadian movement has evolved into something much uglier as anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists co-opted what began as a peaceful, well-intentioned protest.

At the weekend, the fundraiser’s organisers, Benjamin Dichter and Tamara Lich, told an invite-only news conference the idea was to create a “logistics nightmare” to corner the Canadian government.

The rowdy group is now calling for the eradication of all health measures introduced during the pandemic to keep people — particularly the vulnerable — safe. Several thousand protesters arrived in Ottawa and swarmed Parliament on Saturday, and many remain there. Trudeau — who incidentally has tested positive for COVID-19 — has refused to meet with the protesters, and called them “an insult to memory and truth”.

“Over the past few days, Canadians were shocked and frankly disgusted by the behaviour displayed by some people protesting in our nation’s capital,” he said.

Why? Some of the protest signs have Nazi symbols and others compare restrictions with the treatment of the Jews in World War II.

The deputy leader of the Conservative Party took a different tack, however, tweeting that the protesters “deserve to be heard and they deserve respect”.

It seems they are being heard — hundreds of trucks remain parked throughout Ottawa’s streets and residents and businesses report a blaring of horns and fireworks at all hours. Ottawa’s mayor has begged them to go, saying his constituents feel like “prisoners in their own homes” as the demonstrations rage on.