Alex is "sick of the rich controlling the poor ... sick of the government."
The fervent anti-capitalist protester was just one of approximately 4,000 that police say marched through Ottawa's streets for the second consecutive day yesterday, but he stood out nonetheless.
Alex is all of four-foot-eight and is 12 years old.
"You can't be too young or too old to protest," he said.
The final day of the Take the Capital protests against the
G8 summit held in Kananaskis, Alta., this week was as wet and sodden as the first, but that did not keep protesters like Alex from marching for their cause.
The crowd left Major's Hill Park just after 1 p.m., wove though the Market and headed west to the Mackenzie King Bridge, where they rallied in front of the Department of National Defence, before converging on Parliament Hill.
Nor did the weather do much to cool the wrath of business owners still fuming over lost sales due to the protest.
Eric Schwartz, owner of Ottawa Leather Goods on Sparks Street, accused the city of giving protesters the "key to the city" while leaving businesses to deal with the fallout.
He said his store made only $550 on Wednesday, compared to its usual $3,000 in sales.
"For small businesses, that's a substantial unrecoverable amount," Mr. Schwartz said.
Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade Business Improvement Area, said downtown businesses lost "millions of dollars" during the protests.
And while businesses in Alberta may be compensated by the federal government for sales lost as a result of G8 protests provided they remained open, Ottawa businesses are so far ineligible for such compensation.
City Councillor Elisabeth Arnold, whose ward includes Sparks Street, said Ottawa businesses should be eligible for the same compensation.
"If there is compensation, there should be equality," she said.
Mac Harb, the Liberal MP for Ottawa Centre, said he plans to approach Deputy Prime Minister John Manley about federal compensation for downtown businesses whose sales were affected by G8 protests.
Due to the largely orderly nature of the protests, though, losses, especially those due to vandalism, were kept to a minimum during the two-day event.
At a wrapup meeting last night headed by the Ottawa police Major Events Liaison Team, police stressed how pleased they were with the peaceful nature of the event.
Just two people of the thousands who converged on the capital were taken into police custody.
Bertrand Loiselle, 39, was released from jail yesterday morning, with conditions, following his arrested Wednesday.
He was charged with three counts of assaulting a police officer and one count of causing bodily harm. Mr. Loiselle denied deliberately scuffling with police. "I touched police, and I touched other people," he said after his release. "But I did not hit, push, punch or do anything else to a police officer."
Manuel Carlos Almeida, 44, of Montreal, was taken into custody yesterday for breach of probation. He was on probation for a protest-related convictions in Quebec. He was wanted for escaping custody and failing to report to a probation officer.
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