The Olympic Plaza ice rink was temporarily closed Saturday due to continuing protests against government restrictions intended to slow down the spread of COVID-19.
A tweet from the City of Calgary said the rink would be closed for the remainder of the day Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m.
“Shutting down Olympic Plaza is sensible during a pandemic and fining the leaders of these protest with increasingly steep fines makes a ton of sense and hopefully when the leaders go away, you cut the head off that dragon it stays down,” Ward 9 Coun. Gian Carlo Carra said.
READ MORE: Calgary, Edmonton protesters rally against COVID-19 measures as Alberta adds 1,590 new cases
City Parks told Global News the plaza was closed for the safety of those who would be using the rink during the rallies. The city said a lot of families visit facility during the day, and they didn’t want their safety jeopardized by keeping it open during the rallies.
“I kind of feel like we should not be giving any more oxygen to these people who are behaving reprehensibly, whether it’s because they are fundamentally bad people or whether it’s because they went down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theory and they have decoupled from reality,” Carra said.
READ MORE: Calgary ‘freedom’ protests net more fines
This week Calgary police issued fines for participants and organizers of recent protests.
Calgary police estimated as many as 200 people participated in Saturday’s protest; however, the crowd appeared to be substantially smaller than in previous weeks.
READ MORE: Calgary and Edmonton rallies protest government COVID-19 restrictions
The Olympic Plaza skating rink has been limited to 100 skaters, with users having to maintain a minimum of a two metre distance from anyone who is not part of their cohort and skating times have been restricted to one hour.
The rink was scheduled to reopen Sunday morning.
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