On Saturday, August 8, an anti-mask protest in Montreal took place in response to facial coverings being made mandatory in all indoor, public spaces. The new regulation has been enforced by both the provincial government and the City of Montreal. The decision is one that has been made across the country as various regions continue gradual reopening following an economic shutdown due to COVID-19.
Some citizens have shown their dismay and frustration at the decision, both online and in-person.
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Saturday's rally saw thousands of people on the streets, but not all from the city. Many people made the journey from off the island to have their voices heard.
Signs and chants indicated their position that it's their right to wear a mask or get vaccinated and that their body should allow them a sense of autonomy.
The majority of marchers didn't wear facial coverings.
They held signs and waved flags — both from the province and from all over the world.
People on Twitter have also been vocal about their thoughts. Not about the mask situation, but about the protest itself.
And it's safe to say that the majority of Montrealers discussing the protest were not supporters of it... at all.
Many have expressed their thoughts on the fact that the mask is a safety measure and that the rally has become a source of shock and frustration.
Others are comparing the rally to those in the U.S., Florida in particular.
Other mentions of the U.S. referenced the fact that the land border between it and Canada remains closed.
The user mentions that the protest shows that inter-provincial borders remaining open are just as dangerous as opening the border to the U.S.
Other users took a more sarcastic approach, using tags like #MyBodyMyChoice to show other public health measures that are in place to keep the population safe.
However, the conversation is not limited to Quebec.
People across the country are also discussing yesterday's event.
At the time of writing this article, "Quebec" was trending in Toronto, with 13,000 tweets.
There was definitely more than one user who mentioned the term "covidiots."
Although we looked in multiple searches for tweets from users in favour of Saturday's protest, at the time of writing this article, it seems that no tweets had been published commending the event.
Feel free to search up "Montreal anti-mask" or "Montreal protest" for yourself, to see what other people in the 514 think about the anti-mask protest.