In Canada, there's a protest going on among some truckers about having to be vaccinated to cross the border between the U.S. and Canada. Although around 90% of truckers are reportedly vaccinated, a loud and vocal minority have organized themselves into being a real nuisance, occupying Ottawa, snarling up traffic and generally being a pain in the ass. They had also started an online crowd-sourcing project via GoFundMe to pay for their obnoxiousness. Unfortunately for them, that site froze their funds, and now they and other mostly rightwingers are hopping mad about it.
Source: CBC
The crowdfunding platform GoFundMe says it will stop payments to the organizers of Freedom Convoy 2022 and refund donors directly because the protest violates its rules on violence and harassment.
The company announced its decision in a blog post on Friday evening, just two days after it froze disbursements of the fund.
"GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created," the company said in the post.
"We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity."
The company said the protest violates a rule in its terms of service that prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment. The fundraising page for the convoy has been deleted from GoFundMe's website.
GoFundMe's full statement is here. With some tweets on how the money will be returned. Another platform that caters to rightwingers is now hosting.
Some reaction from the usual suspects.
Becoming a cause célèbre for many of the worst American politicians.
And of course this joker.
