Eyewitness: It’s 22C – and core demonstrators are committed
Maxime Bernier, the leader of the right-wing People’s Party of Canada, is a popular man at the Ottawa protests.
He’s been here every weekend giving speeches to the crowd, and will host a “pancake breakfast” on Sunday.
As we walk along one of the roads leading to the main protest site, he is stopped every few metres by someone wanting to shake his hand or even pass them his baby to hold.
In the first week of the Freedom Convoy protests, Nazi flags were seen in the crowd – but Bernier denies the movement has become a rallying cry for far-right groups around the world.
“No it is not. I was here that weekend and there was one guy in the crowd with a Confederate flag,” he says. “This is not a far-right movement, it is people fighting to regain their freedom. That is it.”
One thing that has become apparent is how committed the core demonstrators are.
At Ambassador Bridge, more than 100 protesters had remained overnight and into the early hours of Saturday despite the threat of arrest and police repeatedly trying to move them on.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, thousands braved temperatures of -22C and flooded into the downtown district. Their resolve, seemingly, has only grown stronger.
