What was dubbed a 'super protest' on posters advertising the event brought a few hundred people to Jack Poole Plaza on April 10, 2022.
The central focus of the protest was vaccines and Bill Gates, who will be speaking some time this week at the TED conference at the Vancouver Conference Centre. Many protesters connect the COVID-19 vaccine to Bill Gates and a variety of conspiracies; Gates and his foundation have been involved in distributing vaccines for various diseases to poorer communities globally.
Signs at the protest had references to eugenics, the Bible and the World Economic Forum, along with anti-Dr. Bonnie Henry and anti-vaccine rhetoric. There were also many signs, shirts and references to the trucker convoy protest which froze Ottawa earlier this year, with some attendees mentioning they had attended.
One of the first speakers also targetted Elon Musk, who will also be speaking at the conference, accusing the tech billionaire of planning to use the Starlink system to surveil the surface of the Earth 24/7 and claiming he's involved with plans to put USB ports in soldier heads.
Later in the protest Chris Sky, a leader in the Canadian anti-vaccine movement, took the stage and marched the group over to the TED conference entrance, before marching back to the protest's stage.
Musicians and other speakers took to the stage during the protest. Police say no incidents of note occurred during the protest.
