Freedom protestors were demonized despite being ‘peaceful’ and ‘patriotic’: Conservative senator

Batters says that participants were unfairly framed as miscreants by Ottawa's "chattering class," saying that she :never felt safer walking home" from her office at night.

"The protesters I met very much reminded me of the people I know in Saskatchewan — friendly, hard-working, patriotic Canadians," she said, according to CBC.

Batters said that all behaviour she saw was "peaceful" and "non-threatening," adding that she sympathized with residents who had to put up with the noise created by truck horns and participants.

"I do not tolerate harassment, intimidation or destruction ever, but I can honestly say that I personally did not see any of that behaviour exhibited by the protesters," she said. "What is the national emergency this time? Dance parties and loud horns?"

Batters said that Ottawa's political and media class did a lot of talking about the protests, and not enough talking with protestors.

"Ottawa's mayor called them yahoos and idiots. Others online maligned them as Nazis and terrorists. Everyone had an opinion about them, but certainly no one was talking with them."

Another Conservative senator, Michael MacDonald, called Ottawa residents entitled for not opening their city to Canadians.

"It's everybody's f--king city, this is the capital of the country. It's not your god-damned city just because you have a six-figure salary and you work 20 hours a week, you haven't worked a full week in two years. It's sickening, it's sickening," he said in a video for which he later apologized.