Ottawa rally thread. /1

Event started late. Speakers were supposed to start at noon. By noon, equipment was not yet set up and the crowd looked to be closer to 40 than 100. Omari was carrying audio equipment out between noon and quarter to 1.

Early on Kelly Anne Farkus was giving some interviews near where speakers would be. Most people were still kind of hanging around the entrance. Shawn Jason Laplante was walking around talking to people. I didn't get a chance to speak with him personally. /2

Dozens of couples walked through parliament hill and were VERY visibly confused. I spoke with a few, most said that they were spending Valentine's Day walking through parliament. I suggested a walk through the market as an alternative to one very nice couple. /3

Kevin J. Johnson and one other person walked up behind me and asked "Where's Kelly Anne". I pointed to her and he walked away without saying anything. Almost everyone cheered when he approached. /4

Outside the gates I spoke with Rob Carbone's merch table about Carbone and the rally. They told me he'd been added as a 1:30 speaker. Later, I ran into him and chatted for a few minutes. He was unaware of the supposed 1:30 start time and insisted he was on at 2:15. /5

A table outside the gates had flyers and cards from Hugs Over Masks, Vaccine Choice Canada, and some other orgs I'd never heard of. They also had Druthers in a box under the table. Worker there said there wasn't room on the table to show it off but gave me a copy. /6

Another woman outside the gates handed out printed copies of the Canadian Bill of Rights. She said she was giving them away from free in contrast to what Kevin J. Johnson charged for. I asked her more about Johnson, she called him a fraud, then we talked about my camera. /7

Another flyer provider was a young man handing out information about citizen's arrests. He told me that he was not a sovereign citizen and seemed familiar with the term. We spoke about the attempted citizen's arrests of mayors, which he said he'd like to partake in. /8

One woman we spoke to was incredibly nice to my friend and I, but did say that we were murderers for wearing masks. I'll upload audio of both of these conversations this week. /9

One man accosted me outside asking me if I was a yellow vest. As there were yellow vests present, wearing yellow vest, and I was not wearing a yellow vest, I thought it was an odd question. /10

He then asked me, in this order, if I was
1) Tony
2) Sent by Tony
3) Sent by Antifa
4) Morgan (presumably @weynagrom )
5) Tony again
6) Tony one final time and then
Decided that I must, in fact, be Tony. /11

The actual speeches were a little bit of a mess from a distance. The volume wasn't too bad for the size of the crowd (maybe 300?), but there was no stage so we couldn't see anyone without getting real close. Vlad and Chris were both scheduled and just never showed up. /12

A different person, not Vlad, from Hugs Over Masks was introduced as "the leader of Hugs Over Masks". I didn't recognize his name. /13

Here's one double-sided sign from the crowd. Apologies that the more racist side is out of focus.

FAQ:
Q: Is that a Nazi Iron Cross on the top right of that sign about "genocidal anti-white hate"?
A: Why yes, yes it is. /14

Someone was following me on and off and my hands were getting too cold to work my camera so I left before speeches were over. Threw my mask, hat, gloves, jacket, outer pants in the garage before going back inside. More exciting Valentine's Day than I'm used to for sure. /15

This was just a summary of my personal rally experiences as an outsider to the movement who has the luxury of not having to hide their identity, as well as a preface to videos I'll try to edit and upload this week. /16

@nolifeneet made a great thread of the event itself. For the real Tony (who I'm like, at least 85% sure isn't me) and his rally experience follow @TonyYvce. The real Morgan @weynagrom covers these rallies on a regular basis and his video are fantastic. /17