TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

"You Have To Stop": Canada Police Move In To Remove Anti-Vax Protesters

"You Have To Stop": Canada Police Move In To Remove Anti-Vax Protesters

Canada freedom convoy protests: With barricades going up and a heavy police presence forming in the area where hundreds of big rigs remained parked.

Canadian police massed in the capital Thursday, readying to clear a trucker-led protest that has choked Ottawa's streets for three weeks and provoked the government to call on rarely used emergency powers.

With barricades going up and a heavy police presence forming in the area where hundreds of big rigs remained parked, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Parliament nearby defending his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for only the second time ever in peacetime.

"Illegal blockades and occupations are not peaceful protests," Trudeau told the House of Commons, adding: "They have to stop."

In response to critics, he said the act was not being used to call in the military against the protesters, and denied restricting freedom of expression.

The objective was simply to "deal with the current threat and to get the situation fully under control," he said.

Throughout the day police officers could be seen filing into the parliamentary precinct in Ottawa where the truckers appeared to dig in.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the situation was "precarious."

The demonstrators had been given an ultimatum late Wednesday by the capital city's interim police chief to "leave the area now," or risk arrest and truck seizures.

In a statement, Chief Steve Bell said "a methodical and well-resourced plan" would be carried out over the coming days "to take back the entirety of the downtown core and every occupied space."

"Some of the techniques we are lawfully able and prepared to use are not what we are used to seeing in Ottawa," he said. "But we are prepared to use them... to restore order."

Truckers responded by blaring horns through the night and into Thursday. Waving Canadian flags on the ends of hockey sticks, they also chanted "freedom!"

One of the protest leaders, Tamara Lich posted a tearful video to say she was expecting to be arrested. "I think it's inevitable at this point... I'm okay with that," she said.

She also called on supporters to flood the capital, saying truckers already in place "are gonna stay and fight for your freedom."

"If you can come to Ottawa and stand with us, that would be fantastic," she said. "I want you to keep fighting the good fight."

 Potential for 'terrorist attacks'


Facing growing pressure to dislodge the protesters, Trudeau this week invoked emergency powers to end their occupying Ottawa and until recently blocking border crossings to the United States -- which Mendicino said has cost the economy billions of dollars.

Such a move has only been used once before, in 1970 by his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, to crack down on Quebec separatists who'd kidnapped two officials and set off bombs in Montreal.

"It's time for people to go home," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference, warning truckers that the penalties for staying "will bite."

"Let me also be clear that we will have zero tolerance for the establishment of new blockades or occupations," she said after a convoy was stopped late Wednesday from re-occupying the Ambassador Bridge -- a key trade route between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan.

In documents filed to the Commons, the government laid out its rational for invoking the emergency powers, saying the trucker convoy has created a critical and urgent situation that cannot be dealt with under any other Canadian laws.

It cited "a risk of serious violence and the potential for lone actor attackers to conduct terrorism attacks."

In a letter to provincial premiers, Trudeau decried the protests as "a threat to our democracy."

"It is affecting Canada's reputation internationally, hurting trade and commerce, and undermining confidence and trust in our institutions," he added.

The so-called "Freedom Convoy" started with truckers protesting against mandatory Covid vaccines to cross the US border, but its demands have since grown to include an end to all pandemic health rules and, for many, a wider anti-establishment agenda.

At its peak, the movement also included blockades of a half-dozen border crossings that have now been cleared.

Police this week arrested dozens of protesters, including four people charged with conspiracy to murder police officers at a checkpoint between Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana.

They also seized dozens of vehicles, as well as a cache of weapons that included rifles, handguns, body armor and ammunition.

Freeland said bank accounts of protesters and their backers have been frozen "and more accounts will be frozen."

Authorities have also moved to choke off crowdfunding and cryptocurrency transactions supporting the protesters, she said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×