After remarks by Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek condemning protests which advocated for civil liberties, an injunction was filed by the city of Calgary limiting peaceful protests.
4/4 It’s past time to deal with people not following the law.
— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) March 13, 2022
It’s past time to support people in their own communities & businesses.
It’s past time to face the fact that this “protest” requires more than “crowd control”.
Enforcement must stand with the community.
This injunction has one main function, allowing police to crack down on peaceful protests which contradict the preferences of our politicians. Notably this can be seen with the enforcement being levied at those advocating for civil liberties under the banner of freedom.
Police have pushed anti mandate protesters out of the park to the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/UEE21DSQCz
— K2🍁🚛 (@kiansimone44) March 19, 2022
There are four pillars built into this injunction, each of which come with threat of arrest or detainment. These prohibitions come as follows;
- Walking on and blocking of roadways, and accessing amenities in the area
- Unreasonably disturbing the use of a park, or using amplification therein
- Commercial activity/operation of vendor stands
- Unnecessary sounding of horns or other audible warning devices of motor vehicles or of other noise making devices
In all, these limitations dictate that our freedom to peacefully assemble must be re-sanctioned by the the lower-level bureaucrats and politicians, who often find self-interest pivotal to their actions.
Here's the injunction https://t.co/bzlp502AIL pic.twitter.com/G90miENarA
— Syd Fizzard 🍁 (@SydFizzard) March 19, 2022
Another driver was ticketed $81 for honking in support of the ‘freedom rally’ in Calgary, Alberta. 🤡
— Mocha Bezirgan (@BezirganMocha) April 2, 2022
Here is the interesting dialogue of the police officer with the protesters:
For more https://t.co/Apz9xNRs7h
Full report coming soon w/ @ATSoos pic.twitter.com/odGXufrdKa
There is one way around this injunction however as the mayor flaunted herself recently at a cosplay protest, and that is to get a permit from the city, which alleviates threats of police cracking down.
Calgary. The city of double standards?@RebelNewsOnline
— Selene Galas (@Selenecxliv) April 22, 2022
Full story to come. pic.twitter.com/gtN3PRriOP
The problem though is that these permits aren’t handed out in a non-partisan manner, instead they’re done so seemingly as a favour to those who cozy up to the establishment. As we found out from Street Church Calgary which provides food for the homeless and those in need, who have had to perform their duties without the blessing of the city well before this injunction further prohibited peaceful gatherings.
Likely for the foreseeable future, those protesting the government in any capacity will find themselves between a rock and a hard place, meanwhile hockey fans are set to hit the streets on mass, and likely won’t face the same undeserved scrutiny when it comes to abiding by the injunction.
Though protesting the government has seen an uphill battle, freedom rally protesters have stood strong in the face of the injunction, adjusting how and where they protest in order to avoid the heavy-handed tactics we’ve seen from police previously. As well, The Democracy Fund has now filed legal documents to challenge this protest ban in order to bring the right to peacefully protest back to Calgary. You can donate to The Democracy Fund through this link found at ProtestLawsuit.com, donations would qualify you for a charitable tax receipt and through ProtestLawsuit.com you can sign the petition to have this injunction removed.