Quebec City mayor worried, urges respect ahead of planned COVID-19 protest

Quebec City's mayor says he is concerned about a COVID-19 protestexpected to roll into the region this weekand perhaps to disrupt theworld's largest winter festival.

After a raucous demonstration in Ottawa over the weekend against Canada's COVID-19 measures, some Quebecers are supporting the cause by planning to head to the provincial capitalstarting Thursday to protest in front of the National Assembly.

"It worries me a lot," said Bruno Marchand at a news conference Tuesday.

He says it's normal for people to want to protestbut he is calling on demonstrators to be respectful of citizens as well as business owners, who are "barely keeping their heads above water."

"We have to be respectful of others, especially in these difficult times," said Marchand, also pointing to possible disruptionstothe Quebec Winter Carnival as residents try to "rediscover hope" these days.

Organizers of the carnival opening Friday, Feb. 4 fear the demonstration will derail some of the programming.

"It would obviously be deplorable if the carnival, which is unfolding in an already very difficult context and which is trying to offer an alternative to the prevailing gloom, were to become a collateral victim of the demonstrations," saidMlanie Raymond, executive director of the carnival.

Organizers say they will try to keep the public informed should the expected demonstrations affect any of the carnival'sprogramming, scheduling or access to sites.

Political leaders blame premier's'divisive' measures

In the last few days, several events have popped up on social media askingQuebecersto demonstrate in front of the National Assemblyanddemand anend to vaccine mandates and public health restrictions in line with the calls in Ottawa.As of Tuesday, a few thousand people hadindicated online that they wouldbe attending the events.

As with the Ottawa demonstration, some Quebecers are planning to leave from several locations across the provincestarting Thursday and make their way to the provincial legislature.Many, if not most,of the demonstratorsare expected to arriveearly Saturday afternoon, according to social media.

Several politicians reiterated the right of the population to assert their opinions when asked about the planned demonstrations, but Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade alsoexpressed some concerns on Tuesday.

"When I see what is happening, what has happened in Ottawa, when I have seen flags of extremists, of fascist parties of vandalism, of comments that incite hatred, obviously, we can only condemn everything associated with it," she said.

QubecSolidairehouse leader Gabriel Nadeau-Duboissaid the imposition of the health tax for the unvaccinatedan idea now scrapped caused a lot of division within the Quebec population andcontributed to the discontent by adding fuel to the fire.

'I trust Quebecers,' Legault says

At aTuesday news conference, Premier FranoisLegaultdropped the plan to tax the unvaccinated, saying he feared the "disruption of social peace" in the province.

Legault deniedbacking down due to demands by organizers of the planned protest, saying hehad already begun to have discussions "last week" about scrapping the tax.

As for the possible protests in Quebec City, Legaultsays he hopes demonstrators keep the peace.

"I trust Quebecers. I think it's important to keep this right to protest, but it's important to do it respectfully ...and not with hateful symbols."

When asked if he would meet with protesters,Legault answered that he's always open to meeting people "who are acting in good faith."

Both the Quebec City police service(SPVQ) and the Sret du Qubec (SQ) say they areaware of the plans. The SPVQ says no official request from the organizer or organizers of the protests has yet been received.

"If the [organizers putin a request], there will be planning in this sense to ensure the safety of demonstrators and road users. So we're looking at that," saidSPVQ spokesperson Sandra Dion.