“China eats weird animals disease”

The UK’s Durham University has lost its biggest individual donor, multimillionaire Mark Hillery, who pulled his financial support over Covid-19 rules he slammed as “ridiculous.”

A former hedge fund manager and university alumnus, Hillery donated almost £7m to the university’s Collingwood College between 2015 and 2021. He has funded a number of facilities, including a new arts center that bears his name, according to the student newspaper Palatinate, which was the first to reveal Hillery’s decision to withdraw his support.

Yesterday morning in the small town of Saint-Gaudens, south-west France, a pensioner thrust a cake and 20 euros through the window of a camper van starting on the two-day ‘liberty convoy’ to Paris. Locals had prepared a table packed with provisions to sustain those driving across the country to protest against the vaccine passport and other strict covid measures. Cars had ‘freedom’ or tricolours attached to their sides; a camper van bore a sign about love on the dashboard and flew a dove of peace out of the window.

Workers have more power than any time since the 1950s.

… This new leverage is rooted in demographic trends. The US’s working population – people aged between 16 and 64 – grew by more than 20 per cent in the 1980s. In the past decade, it has grown by less than five per cent. To make matters worse, an estimated one-third of American working-age males are not in the labour force, suffering from high rates of incarceration, and from drug, alcohol and other health issues.

This is not a uniquely American experience. China’s population, according to one recent survey, is expected to halve in less than half a century, and its population of under-60s may already be in decline. Germany, a long-established industrial powerhouse, suffers from a fatal lack of new workers – a factor in the notable slowing of its formidable manufacturing sector. Germany’s workforce is expected to drop by five million by 2030.

OK, you guys win. Masks; vaccine passports; distancing; this is the new normal.

Let’s do it forever. You win.

Whether you’re a member of the zoom-class with your newspaper tucked up beside some stack of rapid antigen tests, or you’re some Liberal trying to suck up for the next cabinet appointment, you win, we give up.

The truckers are teaching him an overdue lesson in the limits of government.

Humans form governments not to surrender their liberty but to secure it. The state exists for man, not man for the state, as many natural law philosophers have observed. According to this understanding of government, the proper response to a tyrannical law is disobedience. An unjust law, after all, isn’t a real law at all. It is an act of violence that cries out for resistance. But self-serving government officials cast such laudable resistance as a threat to the state. In truth, it is only a threat to their tyranny.

Police were handing these memos out to the crowd and answering questions. pic.twitter.com/ZcSiy2VCF7

— Kathleen Saylors (@KathleenSaylors) February 12, 2022

In his most strongly worded statement since the anti-vaccine mandate protests began nearly two weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that police and all levels of government are preparing to take action against the demonstrators behind the blockades in Ottawa, Windsor and elsewhere.

Trudeau said the protesters must stand down or face severe “consequences” for any illegal activities — consequences that include the possibility of criminal charges and steep financial penalties. He said the federal government will no longer tolerate activists who “take the economy hostage” and bring life to a standstill in the nation’s capital.

Opportunity to end convoy protest peacefully is slipping away, experts say

As the protest against vaccine mandates heads into its third weekend in Ottawa and spreads to border towns, observers say the window for ending it peacefully is closing.

On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a state of emergency as protest blockades continued to shut down parts of Ottawa’s downtown core and portions of Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge — a key cross-border supply route.

The move is largely administrative and gives Ford the power to bring in new orders to punish those who block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure.

PM says ‘everything’ on the table to end blockades following Biden call

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that “everything”—with the exception of deploying the Canadian Armed Forces—is currently on the table to bring the ongoing protests and blockades set up across the country to an end.

Trudeau declined to get into specifics about just how or when the demonstrations will be ceased, citing concerns over a violent outcome.

Paris police prepared on Friday for the arrival of the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ which is due to arrive in the French capital later that same day. The authorities said that “special machines would be utilized” to prevent the demonstrators, who have already been banned from the city, from blocking Paris.

PARIS – Des blindés de la gendarmerie sont positionnés dans la capitale. Ils pourront être utilisé pour pousser des voitures à l'arrêt. #convoisdelaliberte @CLPRESSFR pic.twitter.com/TNKByuBDOX

— Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) February 11, 2022

“Message to Demonstrators from Windsor Police Service

“The Windsor Police Service wants to make demonstrators clearly aware that it is a criminal offence to obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the lawful use, enjoyment, or operation of property. The offence itself is known as mischief to property.

“The unlawful act of blocking streets at and near the Ambassador Bridge is resulting in people being denied the lawful use, enjoyment and operation of their property and causing businesses to close down.

“We are providing notice that anyone blocking streets or assisting others in the blocking of streets may be committing a criminal offence and must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges. You could be arrested if you are a party to the offence or assisting others in the direct or indirect commission of this offence.

“Vehicles or other property related to an offence may be seized. Once a vehicle is seized, it may be detained and, following a conviction, possibly forfeited.

“Charges and/or convictions related to the unlawful activity associated with the demonstration may lead to denial in crossing the USA border.”

An injunction to remove protesters blocking traffic to the Ambassador Bridge International border crossing in Windsor, Ont. has been granted following an Ontario Superior Court of Justice hearing on Friday.

The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) and Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association took the legal step, which was backed by the City of Windsor.

The injunction will go into effect at 7 p.m. to give protesters the chance to clear the area.

What started as a convoy to end vaccine mandates for Canadian truckers travelling across the U.S. border has snowballed into an evolving, fluid protest about COVID-19 and the Trudeau government in general.

Here, CTVNews.ca takes a look at who has stepped forward publicly as the organizers and influential protesters of the Ottawa convoy.