There may have been fencing at downtown Barrie’s Meridian Place, but that didn’t stop people from coming out Saturday to protest the current lockdown and public health measures.
Today's demonstration marked the eighth straight week of protests in downtown Barrie, which organizers have dubbed 'freedom rallies.'
A group of approximately 50 protesters — many of whom had signs, flags and sporting other anti-lockdown messaging — initially gathered near the Meridian Place gates that were set up Friday by the city in an attempt to deter the protest from going ahead.
Shortly after noon, the crowd made its way across Simcoe Street to Heritage Park and then along the waterfront trail to their final destination at Centennial Park.
The group, which included people of all ages, ultimately grew in size to approximately 200 people at the height of the protest, according to police. Previous weeks have seen crowds of between 300 and 500 people.
“They gathered a little bit of momentum as they continued along,” said Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon.
As has been the case with protests in previous weeks, the event included several guest speakers, including one who was said to be a microbiologist. Another scheduled speaker was a local nurse, who ultimately did not attend after she was informed by family members she would not be allowed to see them if she chose to speak at the event, the organizer told the crowd.
A 34-year-old Stayner man was arrested and taken by officers to a nearby cruiser after attempting to get the crowd to follow him back to Meridian Place to take down the gates blocking off the square. He was charged with causing a disturbance and resisting a peace officer, said Leon, adding no other arrests were made and no tickets were issued.
“We did not encourage the grouping of individuals aware of the laws in place. Rule of law is what it is,” Barrie police Insp. Rich Johnston told BarrieToday. “Having said that, it’s occurring and an individual went into the middle of the crowd and the interaction took place where that individual created and caused a disturbance.
"We are here to keep the peace as peace officers," Johnston added. "That disturbance then caused us to remove that individual.”
