A handful of furious people, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were the demonstrators that surrounded him outside a Hamilton restaurant on Tuesday.
A video that was shared on social media shows the prime minister entering Jackson Square, a plaza between York Boulevard and James Street, as a sizable crowd yells and swears at him. In the footage, Trudeau is seen being guarded by uniformed police, who make sure he can cross the street without incident.
The demonstrators’ cries of “tyrant” and “traitor” can be heard as they call for Trudeau to step down. There were numerous demonstrators carrying Canadian flags.
When Trudeau referred to the participants in the trucker convoy in Ottawa as a “fringe minority of people,” one of the demonstrators carried a flag that said, “We love the fringe.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was probably referenced by the demonstrators’ inflatable sheep, which bore the words “99.8% survival rate” and appeared to be wearing a mask.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trudeau reaffirmed that the majority of the city’s residents had welcomed him with open arms while he is there for a Liberal cabinet retreat.
“A handful of angry people do not define what Hamilton is or what democracy is in this country,” Trudeau said. “The welcome I’ve gotten here in Hamilton has been extraordinary.”
Prabhnoor Kaur