According to the Ottawa police leadership, the center of the Canadian capital is already looking very different this weekend than it has been in recent weeks.
Demonstrations against interest rate restrictions in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, have continued for three weeks. The Canadian parliament has canceled its sitting today, Friday, as police prepared to end truck demonstrations.
On Monday, the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau took hard action and declared a state of emergency – only for the second time in peace. The state of Ontario had already been declared a state of emergency before the weekend.
On Thursday night, local time Ottawa police informed the incumbent police chief Steve Bellin at the mouth that the protest is going to end immediately. According to Bell, this meant that the authorities would tighten their grip on the protest zone to dispel protests. Police had, among other things, started building security barriers and started restricting access to the area occupied by the protests in the city center.
– I appeal to everyone who is there: Jump in your trucks and get off the streets of our city, Bell said.
Late Thursday night Canadian media, CBC, among others, report (switch to another service) police arrested two leading figures in a demonstration called Freedom Convoy in Ottawa on Thursday. According to news channel CBC sources, both detainees are expected to receive charges on their necks. Both are also named in a possible class action filed with the Ontario District Court.
Bell had warned protesters late Wednesday, saying that if they did not leave the scene, they could be arrested and their truck taken over.
“We are ready to use extracts that have not been seen in Ottawa before,” Bell reported.
The truck drivers’ response to Bell was clear: The horns of the trucks and the cries of freedom echoed well into the streets of Ottawa until Thursday morning.
There are still hundreds of trucks on site
The protests began when truck drivers began protesting mandatory coroner vaccinations to cross the U.S. border.
Over the past few weeks, protests have expanded to cover not only interest rate restrictions but also opposition to the regime. Protesters as well as trucks also blocked trade routes for several days, most notably the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, USA.
In the capital, Ottawa, protests have focused on the downtown area as well as the administrative neighborhoods near the Canadian Parliament. On Thursday, police were sent to clear the area, where hundreds of trucks and trucks were still parked.
Message from Acting Police Chief Bell’s news conference was that next weekend in downtown Ottawa will look very different from what it has looked like last weekend.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for his part, defended his decision to declare a state of emergency, recalling that he had not summoned the army to put the protesters in order. According to the Prime Minister, it is not a question of restricting freedom of expression, but of taking control of the situation.
– Peaceful demonstrations do not include illegal blockades and occupations. They have to stop, Trudeau said.
What makes the situation interesting is that the state of emergency of the previous peace was declared by Trudeau’s father, the former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. According to the Montreal Gazette (you will switch to another service) however, the state of emergency in its current form has never been declared before, as it was still a wartime law of war during the Trudeau regime.