![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.5679630.1596914708!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/anti-mask-protest-montreal-august-8-2020.jpg\")
Thousands\n of demonstrators marched through downtown Montreal Saturday to protest \nagainst the Quebec government’s mandatory mask regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \nprotesters \u2014 the vast majority of whom did not wear masks \u2014 carried \nsigns and wore t-shirts indicating a variety of motivations and \nideologies in opposition to face coverings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some demanded\n freedom, some were critical of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government, \nPremier Fran\u00e7ois Legault or public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda, \nand others espoused various theories about COVID-19 and U.S. politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I find it illogical,” said Nathalie Warren, who travelled from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. for the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Say\n we go into a restaurant,” she said. “We walk in wearing a mask, \nbecause, what, COVID is there? Then we sit down and we can take the \nmasks off because, what, the COVID is gone?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the \ngovernment’s regulations, masks are mandatory in restaurants when \nclients are moving around because it is harder to maintain a physical \ndistance from others in those instances, provincial health authorities \nhave said. When a client is seated, they may remove their mask as long as they are at a two-metre distance from others. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “We\n want our liberty. We want the right to say yes to a vaccine. We want \nthe right to decide. It’s our life, it’s our bodies, it’s up to us,” \nsaid Warren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’m not OK with children going to school wearing \nmasks, and physical distancing,” said Ir\u00e8ne Sarmiento. “It makes no \nsense. The children aren’t to blame. The population is being abused.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, the Quebec government has not made masks mandatory for students heading back to school<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There were frequent spontaneous chants of “libert\u00e9<\/em>”\n as the march wound from the main gates of McGill University on \nSherbrooke Street to the CBC\/Radio-Canada building on Ren\u00e9-L\u00e9vesque \nBoulevard. Montreal police surveyed the event from motorcycles and \nbicycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At previous anti-mask protests in the province over \nthe last month or so, demonstrators argued that mandatory mask rules are\n not fair and that the threat of COVID-19 is not as serious as is being \nreported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday, some people made a show of embracing each other or exchanging double-cheek kisses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\n the past, the Quebec government has said that people are allowed to \nprotest. On July 27, responding to protests the previous weekend, Deputy\n Premier Genevi\u00e8ve Guilbault said there would be “consequences” if there\n continued to be incidents where people “transgress the rules of public \nhealth.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n “It has nothing to do with taking away anyone’s right\n to protest or express themselves,” Guilbault said. “It’s obvious that \nanybody can protest. But nobody has the right to put anyone else’s \nhealth in danger.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thousands rally in downtown Montreal to protest Quebec mask rules [And in other widely under-reported rallies in Toronto, & Vancouver & elsewhere Canadian freedom fighters are saying: NO COMPULSORY MASKS, NO NEW POLICE STATE” NORMAL & END THE LOCKDOWN NOW!] … Continue reading ![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.5679635.1596915129!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_780\/anti-mask-protest-montreal-august-8-2020.jpg\")