MRU, site of protest for growing anti-vax movement
By Matthew Hillier, Contributor
Mount Royal University’s (MRU) Riddell Library and Learning Centre was the site of a small demonstration outside of the temporary Calgary mobile vaccination clinic that has been making frequent stops at the school.
The demonstration itself began shortly before 1 p.m. where it was reported on the MRU Now app shortly after. By 1:15 p.m., the demonstration was broken up by five Calgary Police officers that arrived shortly after the protest started. The officers left around 1:30 p.m. after talking to students at the scene.
The protesting individuals were promoting the growing movement against medical policies taken to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Demonstrators had various signs displaying messages against mandatory vaccine measures, passport systems and the mandatory mask policy. They also were in possession of a trumpet to bring further attention. This comes as little surprise to the on-site mobile vaccination clinic as demonstrations like this have become more common in recent weeks at other stops in Calgary.
A growing group of people against mandatory vaccines and passport systems have been more active in recent months as COVID-19 restrictions and policies have been updated. Many in this group focus on COVID-19 policy enforcement rather than the validity of these public health policies.
The movement seemed to gain steam when Calgary-based group, Calgary Freedom Central, organized the September rally against the then-recent decision to make vaccines mandatory. More than 1000 Calgarians were in attendance. According to CTV News, the rally included various frontline workers and John Carpay, a Calgary lawyer, as well as staff president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
Although Calgary Freedom Central has said they were not involved with this particular protest, they said they support “all protests like this.”
The most frequent platform used by these groups is Facebook as this platform gives more options for interaction with local citizens of the group member’s city. Large and active enough Facebook groups can appear on Calgary’s recommended group page.
Only time can tell if these groups will make more appearances at MRU as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
