Protesters vow not to give up as Canada police claim end to unrest

Canadian police claim to have retaken the capital Ottawa which has been hit along with other cities by weeks-long demonstrations and seen the Emergency Act imposed for the second time in the country's history. 

Police on Sunday smashed the windows of vehicles parked in the downtown core of the capital to search and tow them away after the city witnessed two days of tense standoffs.  

Security forces also manned checkpoints restricting access to a 200-hectare downtown area, and put a sizable force on standby to disperse protesters. They took down tents, food stands and other makeshift structures erected by the demonstrators.

Canada begins crackdown on protests with arrest of over 100 people

Canadian forces have begun an unprecedented operation to remove protesters and their trucks and cars in Ottawa, arresting more than 100 protesters and towing their vehicles.

“It's pretty locked down, all I see is cops everywhere,” said a protester who was holding a Canadian flag in hand.

Ottawa interim police chief Steve Bell told a news conference: “We're not done [with] this operation yet."

The sweep comes on the heels of violent crackdowns by police, deploying chemical irritants, pepper spray and stun grenades against protesters and detaining hundreds of people in several cities.

Quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), many protesters said they would keep pressing their cause and call for a full lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

“The protest will go on forever in my heart,” Nicole Craig said.  

Canada police make arrests in Ottawa ahead of crackdown on protests

Police in Canada have detained a number of demonstrators in the capital Ottawa as truckers and their supporters continue to block roads to protest against COVID-19 restrictions.

The ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests initially started in Ottawa on January 29 by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers. They soon morphed into a wider protest, with people joining in with smaller vehicles, including cars, vans and pick-up trucks.

The massive crackdowns came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau termed the peaceful protests as “illegal blockades and occupations”. He told reporters Wednesday that the police should now “be able to begin their actions,” and “it's time for this to end.”

The protests are “affecting Canada's reputation internationally, hurting trade and commerce, and undermining confidence and trust in our institutions,” Trudeau said in the parliament late last week.

Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for only the second time in Canadian history, in spite of critics saying it restricts freedom of expression. Ironically, his father Pierre Trudeau was the first Canadian leader who put troops on the streets to crush Quebec separatists 50 years ago. 

Canada's Trudeau invokes emergency ordinance to suppress trucker protests

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invokes rarely-used emergency ordinance in a bid to quell anti-vaccine trucker protests that have brought the capital city Ottawa to a grinding halt.

Several provincial premiers have also denounced the use of the emergency measures. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has accused the federal government of not having met the threshold for invoking the act.

One notable feature of the current government's reaction is its effort to demonize the protest movement, describing it in such disparaging terms as disruptive, hateful, and thuggish even as the protests have been largely peaceful.

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