Ottawa In Canada, the corona protests are getting out of hand. The police leadership of the Canadian capital Ottawa is now counting on the help of federal and provincial police forces to end the blockade of downtown by truck drivers. After the state of emergency was declared, the mayor requested 1,800 police officers.
However, a quick end to the protests is not in sight, because the protests have long since spread to other regions of the country. In Windsor, for example, trucks are blocking several lanes of the so-called Ambassador Bridge to Detroit – this is the most important border crossing to the USA for the economy.
The truckers’ protest against the vaccination requirement for truck drivers crossing borders with the USA and demanding the repeal of all regulations issued in the fight against the Covid pandemic began on January 28th.
Hundreds of trucks were driven into the city with the “Freedom Convoy” and have since blocked important roads and intersections. Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly now has to admit that the police completely underestimated the protest.
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The sometimes very aggressive slogans of the protesters are aimed in particular at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They portray him as a murderer with a needle, call for his arrest, and insult him with obscenities such as “Fuck Trudeau.”
The fact that, in view of these events, the protests are also being described as “peaceful” and “patriotic” by conservative members of parliament is cynicism for many people in the capital.
Trudeau refuses to negotiate with the truckers. Most of the restrictions were not issued by the federal government anyway, but by provinces. Trudeau could not follow the demand for the lifting of all restrictions for constitutional reasons alone. Some provinces have since announced moves away from Covid restrictions. This includes the waiver of vaccination certificates and the obligation to wear a mask.
For vaccination skeptics, the head of government has become the central hate figure.
(Photo: AP)
At the beginning of the week, a judge issued an injunction to stop the non-stop honking with compressed air horns, which initially brought some relief to people in the city center. The deafening roar of the heavy trucks’ horns and revving engines was like a ten-day ordeal for them.
Parents reported about the fears of their children, who couldn’t sleep and kept getting startled. Seniors and people with disabilities no longer dared to go out on the streets.
Again and again it happens that passers-by who go into the city center with mouth and nose covers are taunted and harassed by truckers and their sympathizers. “Someone came up to me and tried to tear the face mask off my face,” says one of those affected. Another reported being verbally abused and insulted by truckers while jogging.
Conspiracy theorists mingled with the demonstrators
Security experts such as Stephanie Carvin, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, emphasize that conspiracy theorists who spoke of the “genocide of the white population” or called for the secession of the western provinces mingled with the demonstrators.
The fact that some protesters are waving the Confederate flag, which originated in the United States, also worries many residents of the city, especially members of ethnic minorities. The flag is a symbol of slavery and racism.
But the demonstrators not only cause fear and terror, they also find supporters in the population. This is how sympathizers supply the truckers with diesel. The police are now trying to stop the delivery of petrol to the city center and are confiscating canisters.
In order to deceive the police and tie up police forces, canisters are filled with water or carried empty through the streets. A temporary storage facility for propane cylinders was set up in a park in the city center. Local politician Catherine McKenney described the downtown situation as “utter lawlessness.”
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The protest is not only supported by truckers, but also by numerous other citizens who oppose the restrictions. Their posters have slogans like “Freedom” or “We are not China”. They wrap themselves in Canadian flags, demonstrating fathers and mothers take their children with them and involve them in the protests.
People dance at street crossings, and in places there is a loud party atmosphere. The fact that children are also allowed into the driver’s cabs of the trucks was obviously calculated. According to the police, they are forced to refrain from violent action against the truckers in order not to endanger the boys and girls.
Canada is actually in a good position in international comparison with its vaccination rate of more than 80 percent, and the willingness of the population to be immunized is great. There is therefore no general obligation to vaccinate – but there is one for individual professional groups. Since January 15, this has also included the truckers.
According to surveys, a general obligation to vaccinate is accepted by two thirds of the population, as surveys show. But those who oppose it do so with some radical determination. And they are bringing the Canadian health system to the brink of collapse: according to official figures, the relatively low number of unvaccinated people takes up around 50 percent of the bed capacity.
The truckers receive support from parts of the population who are also against the government’s corona restrictions.
(Photo: imago images/ZUMA Wire)
In any case, the nerves of the residents of the city center are now on edge. The anger is great, they feel downright terrorized by the truck drivers and their helpers. With the declaration of a state of emergency, the city now has an opportunity to receive additional help from the higher levels of government – provincial and federal.
In a letter to Trudeau and provincial head of government Doug Ford, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson called for a total of 1,800 emergency services to be deployed. The “criminal activity and hooliganism” of the past few days must end, Watson wrote.
But trucks continue to block central roads and intersections in Ottawa. They could only be eliminated using very heavy equipment – and Trudeau has ruled out the use of the military.
The government is also concerned that the protest is no longer limited to Ottawa. Truckers also turned up in Quebec City, Toronto and other provincial capitals. However, the police there were warned by the events in Ottawa and took early action to prevent developments like those in the capital. The task now is to prevent blockades at the Windsor-Detroit border crossings in Ontario and Coutts in Alberta, which are important for trade with the USA. They would have a major impact on Canada’s economy.
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