OTTAWA(Washington Insider Magazine) – Even as authorities detained 2 protesting organizers and sought to break up the almost three-week demonstration over the country’s Covid-19 limitations, hundreds of truckers jamming Canada’s capital stayed firm and loudly blew their horns Thursday.
Busloads of cops gathered near Parliament Hill in Ottawa, as workmen installed further barricades surrounding federal buildings. Outsiders were also effectively barred from entering most of the downtown area, preventing them from assisting the protests.
According to NBC NEWS, police detained two organizers near Parliament Hill, but authorities did not use force against the marchers.
Weeks of warnings from the government and police that they were at risk of detention and that their financial assets and trucks may be taken did not seem to deter many of the transporters in the self-styled Freedom Convoy.
After weeks of roadblocks and rallies that closed down crossing points into the United States, caused economic harm to both nations, and put Trudeau in a political bind, Ottawa was the movement’s final bastion.
The demonstrations have tarnished Canada’s image as a civilized and rule-abiding nation, inspiring remarkably similar convoys in the Netherlands, France, and New Zealand.
According to the interim chief, Ottawa police started shutting down a large part of the downtown region, allowing only individuals who work or live there to enter after passing through one of more than 100 checkpoints.
The police were particularly concerned about the demonstrators’ youngsters. Before officials moved in, Bell said, authorities were consulting with child welfare organizations to figure out how to securely take the children.
Just this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau implemented Canada’s Emergencies Act, allowing law police to deem the blockades unlawful, tow vehicles away, jail drivers, cancel their licenses and take other actions.
On Thursday, Justin and several of his senior ministers took turns telling demonstrators to leave, in what appeared to be a bid by the government to prevent a conflict, or at the very least to demonstrate that it had gone above and beyond to avoid one.
Protestors in tractors, trucks and recreational vehicles began protesting Canada’s vaccination mandate for truckers coming into the country, but the rallies quickly expanded into a larger attack on Covid-19 measures and Trudeau’s administration.
The Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit, Windsor, and Ontario, was the site of the largest and most catastrophic border blockade. It hampered the flow of automotive parts between the 2 countries and prompted the sector to cut output before police detained scores of protestors last weekend and removed the siege.
Right-wing radicals and veterans, many of whom are armed, have backed the movement, which is one of the reasons authorities have been hesitant to intervene.
According to some security analysts, dispersing the demonstration in Ottawa might be difficult and hazardous, with the possibility for bloodshed, and a harsh law enforcement reaction could be exploited as propaganda by antigovernment radicals.
