Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson described Sunday that seeing children playing in bouncy castles at the “Freedom Convoy” protests against vaccine mandates was “disturbing.”
“It’s disturbing when you see the protest turning into what looks like some kind of a fun carnival, where they’ve got bouncy castles and hot tubs and saunas, a complete insult to the people who are putting up with this nonsense for the last seven days, and it shows a great deal of insensitivity,” Watson, who is unmarried and childless, said when asked for comment by a local Canadian news outlet CTV. In 2019, the outlet reported that he came out as gay. (RELATED: Ottawa Mayor Declares State Of Emergency As Trucker Protest Continues)
“They shouldn’t be bringing in hot tubs, and they shouldn’t be bringing bouncy castles. That’s just ridiculous. That should have been stopped,” he told CTV anchor Katie Griffin. Griffin went on to say that Ottawa’s residents are “losing faith in the city’s ability to [restore] some sort of order.”
Bouncy castles have been set up for the kids in Ottawa. The “small fringe minority” is out of control. pic.twitter.com/yZ62VUeb7d
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 6, 2022
Watson publicly declared a state of emergency Sunday due to the “Freedom Convoy” protests.
“[This] reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” he said in a statement.
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly previously claimed that the police force does not have the resources to fulfill their duties in the wake of the protests.