There's An Anti-Curfew Protest Happening In Montreal Tonight
The protest starts at 10 p.m. on Saturday night — the same time curfew begins.
To ring in 2022, Premier François Legault reimposed a provincewide curfew starting on New Year's Eve. Quebecers are now told to stay in their homes from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and are subject to a fine between $1,000 and $6,000 if caught outside during these hours, unless they meet the government's exemption criteria.
François Legault hopes the implementation of a curfew will help curb the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in our province.
"It's a measure that's extreme because the situation is extreme," Legault said during a recent press conference, promising that as the current wave of COVID-19 infections dies down, the curfew will be the first rule lifted.
But, it seems as though many are not happy to have to undergo yet another curfew in Quebec. So much so that an anti-curfew protest in Montreal is already planned for 10 p.m. on Saturday, January 1 outside Legault's office on rue Sherbrooke Ouest.
And this won't be the first of its kind in Montreal — various anti-curfew protests took place in the city back in April 2021.
MTL Blog spoke with the organizer of the protest, the person behind the @montrealcurfewprotest Instagram page.
When asked why they chose to organize such a protest, they said, "I hate the government. People have been fired for being unvaccinated and never testing positive while individuals who test positive but are vaccinated can work and spread the virus."
"I speak for a voice of a generation when I say that our youth is being stolen away from us, as well as our sacred individual freedoms. The mismanagement of this crisis does not just have people mad, it has us livid," they continued.
The organizer said the goal of the protest is to make the government "listen."
"The demands are that they repeal restrictions of all sorts and allow for people to live life with minimal intervention. Specifically; a repeal of curfew, a repeal of vaccine passports, a repeal of mandatory closures and a repeal of restrictions upon private gatherings — those are the most seminal issues."
The organizer is "encouraging demonstrators to wear masks."
They ended by stressing that "if a protestor is directly in contact or frequently in contact with someone who is immunocompromised or extremely at risk, that is up to their discretion to make responsible decisions."
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.