Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spent the past few hours taking to the intersection of the truck drivers blocking the streets of Ottawa in protest at the sanitation measures imposed by his government, as the movement continues to spread both within the country and abroad.
“This has got to stop,” Trudeau said.at the end of a week of isolation due to the coronavirus, during an urgently organized debate in the House of Representatives.
In the conference room, the president again minimized the protest movement, calling it: “marginal and vociferous minority”, stressing that the country “has conquered this pandemic unitedly”, while “a few screaming and waving swastikas” do not define Canadians.
Since January 28, the so-called “freedom convoy” has paralyzed Canada’s capital in rejecting the government’s decision to force truck drivers crossing the border between Canada and the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Canadian lawmakers have expressed concern about the economic effects of protests against Covid-19 restrictions on #Canada after the most recent blockade at the border crossing to #L† https://t.co/X9UCvU9UPo
– The Day (@lajornadaonline) February 8, 2022
Some 400 to 500 trucks are still driving the streets of Ottawa, where a state of emergency was declared Monday because it “got out of control,” said Mayor Jim Watson.
“People live in fear and are terrified,” the mayor said in a letter to Trudeau.
The truckers, who have been banned from honking since Monday after a court ruling, opted for a new tactic to make themselves heard: boost the engines of their heavy vehicles.making the air unbreathable, according to AFP news agency.
The protest movement in recent days has grown into a protest against the health measures as a whole and for some against the government.
Banners against Trudeau, Canadian flags, bonfires in which protesters warm up, makeshift shelters and tents proliferate in the streets from a town that has a reputation for being quiet.
“I don’t agree with Trudeau’s course of action or his dictatorship,” said Martin Desforgesa 46-year-old truck driver from northern Quebec, who lives with his wife in a van that has been parked in front of parliament since the beginning of the movement and a few meters from the windows of the prime minister’s office.
“Vaccination should be a decision between a person and their doctor. There is no need for the government to intervene,” said John Hawley-Wight.a protester who joined the protest two days ago.
Despite requests for help from Ottawa’s city government and police, the government made no specific announcement during the extraordinary session of parliament last night.
Canadian province lifts COVID-19 restrictions over protests https://t.co/5eSEog6XUv
— The National (@ElNacionalWeb) February 8, 2022
Meanwhile, The movement continues to spread beyond the capital: The Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border points connecting Windsor in Ontario (Canada) to Detroit in the United States, was closed Tuesday morning due to the demonstrations.
And in recent hours, it has sparked similar actions abroad.
In New Zealand, a convoy of trucks and mobile homes blocked the streets around parliament on Tuesday.in Wellington, to protest health measures and vaccination.
Anti-vaccine protests in Canada inspire international mobilization
https://t.co/gyE75SEluh— Semana Magazine (@RevistaSemana) February 8, 2022
In France, thousands of opponents of the sanitary pass announced on social networks that they wanted to “overwhelm Paris” on Saturday as part of a civilian action called “freedom convoy”.
In Canada, where sanitation measures are more restrictive in most provinces than in other parts of the world, the movement has attracted wider popular support than authorities expected.
A latest poll shows that a third of Canadians support the movement and that 44% of those vaccinated understand “the root cause and the frustrations the protesters are conveying”.
