Small group of pedestrians, cyclists bring convoy to a standstill in Edmonton's river valley
CBC
A vehicle convoy making its way into Edmonton's downtown Saturday afternoon ran up against an unexpected roadblock — a couple of dozen people on foot and bikes who brought the convoy to a grinding halt.
Photos posted on Twitter at about 1:30 p.m. showed a long line of eastbound trucks stretching down River Valley Road. In their path were counter-protesters standing in the pedestrian crosswalk at Fortway Drive.
The protesters were wearing masks and carrying signs with slogans like "Honk if you love vaccines" and "Let the babies nap."
"Well, we decided to block one artery of the convoys today," Jason Rockwell said in a post on Twitter. "We all have the right of assembly."
"Hats off to the brave Edmontonians who are currently standing firm against the convoy letting them know their hate has no place in our city or society!" tweeted the Edmonton and District Labour Council in a post.
The counter-protest ended after about 90 minutes, after Edmonton police got involved. The Edmonton Police Service had gone to social media to ask demonstrators to stay off the roadway to allow traffic to flow.
Meanwhile up the hill in Edmonton's downtown, hundreds of protesters, on foot or inside a convoy of trucks and other vehicles, gathered for the third straight weekend of demonstrations protesting mandatory vaccinations and COVID-19 health measures.
Walkers waving signs and flags crowded the sidewalks as they marched from the Federal Plaza near the Alberta Legislature to city hall.
The vehicular convoys, meanwhile, pulled in from staging areas east, west and south of the city, disrupting traffic on major roads like Anthony Henday Drive, St. Albert Trail and Gateway Boulevard.
Many vehicles were honking their horns, ignoring a court injunction sought by the city in a bid to tamp down noise from convoy protesters that has disrupted city residents over the past two weeks.
"While [Edmonton city council] and I fully support the right to peaceful protests, we must set boundaries when it comes to demonstrations that compromise the well-being of local [businesses] and community members," Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said on Twitter Friday.
The injunction, granted Friday by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paul Belzil, prohibits "the frequent or sustained sounding of motor vehicle horns, truck air horns, equipment horns, megaphones and other similar noise-making devices within the boundaries of the city."
It is in effect now and lasts until March 4.
"Please PLEASE enforce this," one Twitter user replied to Sohi's post. "I cannot take another eight hours of honking."
