Facebook silences US truckers protesting vaccine mandates
Jeremy Johnson, admin for the 'Convoy to DC 2022' Facebook group, called it 'censorship at it's finest.' Co-organizer Brian Brase and trucker Mike Landis discuss their support for the movement.
A Canadian elected official in Ottawa allegedly deleted a tweet appearing to outline a plan to legally target the millions of dollars raised in support of the "Freedom Convoy" of truckers protesting a vaccine mandate.
"This morning, I have asked the city manager and city solicitor to immediately launch court proceedings targeting the millions of dollars in funds frozen by @GoFundMe so Ottawa taxpayers are not left holding the bag for these protests," Ottawa City Councilor of Rideau-Vanier Ward Mathieu Fleury allegedly tweeted Monday, according to screen shots posted to Twitter.
The tweet was deleted before noon on Monday. Fox News examined Fleury’s Twitter account Monday morning and found it was restricted to only allow "approved followers" to see his tweets. It is unclear when Fleury protected his Twitter account.
Fox News also found that Fleury's website, mathieufleury.ca, does not have a working "Contact Us" page, showing a "Page not found" error message instead. It is unclear when that page began showing the error message.
Official, Portrait of Mathieu Fleury (City of Ottawa)
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Fox News contacted Fleury's office multiple times since Monday, including on email and by phone, but did not receive a reply. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson also did not return Fox News's requests for comment when contacted via email and on voicemail concerning the alleged deleted tweet. Fox News was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the tweet.
The GoFundMe page for the Freedom Convoy 2022 shows over $9 million has been raised since it was established on Jan. 14.
News stories began circulating last week reporting that the GoFundMe page was frozen and organizers needed to outline how the millions of dollars in raised funds would be spent.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Monday that organizers did detail how the funds would be spent and that they withdrew $1 million to support their effort.
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"The trust and safety of our global community is our top priority. That is why we're following our standard verification process and working directly with the campaign organizer to ensure the funds are distributed as stated by the organizer and in compliance with the law and our Terms of Service."
Another organizer of the convoy said at the group's first press conference on Sunday that mainstream media outlets were reporting a "purely just a fake story" regarding the fundraising page that was "probably" working to "sabotage the donations that were coming in."
The Freedom Convoy of truckers left Vancouver for Ottawa on Jan. 23 to protest the federal government’s vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers and is calling for an end to coronavirus restrictions. The convoy reached Ottawa this weekend and was joined by thousands of other Canadians protesting the mandates.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed the protestors in a virtual news conference on Monday for allegedly spewing "hateful rhetoric," while speaking fondly of the Black Lives Matter protests.
"I have also chosen to not go anywhere near protests that have expressed hateful rhetoric, violence toward fellow citizens. And a disrespect, not just of science, but of the frontline health workers and quite frankly, the 90% of truckers who have been doing the right thing to keep Canadians safe, to put food on our tables. Canadians know where I stand. This is a moment for responsible leaders to think carefully about where they stand and who they stand with," he said.
Critics lambasted the prime minister for accusing the protesters of being violent and hateful. The protests have been described as peaceful, with most disturbances coming in the form of people dancing, chanting and honking horns.
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"This country right now is like a raw nerve and the prime minister is jumping up and down on it again and again with his inflammatory record rhetoric," member of Parliament Pierre Poilievre told the House of Commons on Monday. "We're talking about people who have 14-year-old kids that are suicidal after two years of lockdowns."