Protesters against vaccine mandates and other restrictions due to COVID-19 withdrew their vehicles from a crucial bridge on Canada’s border with the United States, but intensified their mobilizations in various cities in Canada, including the capital, where police he said he was expecting reinforcements to end what he described as an illegal occupation.
The tense situation on the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit eased in the morning when Canadian police persuaded protesters to move their trucks that they had used to block entry at that busy international border crossing.
However, the protesters regrouped nearby —with reinforcements— and at night they continued to block access from the Canadian side, hindering transit and trade for the sixth consecutive day.
In Ottawa, protesters swelled into the thousands as has been the case in previous weekends, loud music filled the air and people milled into the city center where anti-vaccine protesters have camped since late January.
The protests on the bridge, in Ottawa and elsewhere have not been unique to Canada, as they have also taken place for similar reasons in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
The US Department of Homeland Security has warned that trucker caravans could be brewing in the country.
A former cabinet minister in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has taken the unusual step of exposing her former colleagues at the federal, provincial and municipal levels for failing to end the protests.
“Amazingly, this is not just Ottawa. This is the nation’s capital,” Catherin McKenna tweeted. “But no one, not the city, not the province, not the federal government seems willing to end this illegal occupation. It’s deplorable… Just act. Already”.
Trudeu has referred to the protesters as a “fringe” of Canadian society, and both federal and provincial authorities say they have the power to order police what to do.
Ottawa Mayor Jimm Watson declared a state of emergency last week in the capital, where hundreds of trucks stood in front of the Parliament building and protesters set up portable toilets in front of the prime minister’s office, where the motorcade usually parks. of Trudeau vehicles.
In a statement, the police referred to the protest as an illegal occupation and said they were waiting for “reinforcements” to put in place a plan to end the demonstrations.
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