Say Anything Blog

Darn...

OTTAWA (AFP) - Hopes for early mass protests in the streets of Ottawa on the eve of Tuesday's visit by US President George W. Bush fizzled out, as journalists outnumbered demonstrators.

A loose coalition of groups opposed to just about everything Bush supports had promised two demonstrations hours before Bush was due to jet into Ottawa Tuesday aboard Air Force One.

The first demonstration -- of Palestinians and sympathisers of the Palestinian cause opposed to Washington's support of Israel -- attracted less than 40 demonstrators.

According to a quick head count by journalists, the protest attracted 39 demonstrators, 42 journalists and television crew members and three police officers.

A second, ostensibly larger, demonstration scheduled for the midst of the evening rush hour -- was called by a group calling itself Students Against Bush.

Nobody turned up. Further protests however were expected on Tuesday.

...they had so much potential too.

Here's an updated image of Parliament Hill in Ottawa taken by a webcam across the street:



The image above will update every five minutes.

Looks like a few of the nuttier ones did manage to show up:



And not all of the demonstrators were anti-Bush:



Update:

You can find more photos from a man-on-the-street here.

He's guessing that the bit protests are going to get under way later. I guess that makes sense seeing as how its the middle of the work week. I guess I don't always realize that at least some of these protesters probably have jobs.