The mayor of Ottawa has declared a state of emergency to deal with truck drivers protesting national coronavirus regulations — a 10-day occupation that has shut down the center of the Canadian capital.
“(This) reflects the grave danger and threat to residents’ safety and security posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” Mayor Jim Watson said in a statement, Reuters reported.
The so-called “Freedom Convoy” started as a protest against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truck drivers, but turned into a mass demonstration against the Canadian government over other coronavirus regulations.
The protesters have gathered in downtown Ottawa, near Parliament Hill, and their demands have grown to end all national mandates of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Speaking to Canadian radio station CFRA, Watson said the capital has “gone out of control” and truck drivers were behaving “insensitively” with “horns and sirens, [setting off] fireworks and make it a party.”
“Obviously we are outnumbered and we are losing this battle,” he said on Sunday. the BBC reported, adding: “This must be reversed – we must get our city back.”
The organizers of the protests said they would not use their horns for four hours on Sunday “as a gesture of goodwill”.
Watson didn’t give specific details about what measures he might impose, but police said they would step up enforcement, including possible arrests of those seeking to help protesters by bringing them supplies such as fuel, toilet paper and food.
Police have also relocated some protesters and erected new barricades, saying they are “collecting “financial, digital, vehicle registration … and other evidence that will be used in criminal prosecutions.”
The protesters, some of whom are waving Confederate and Nazi flags, said they want to dissolve the Canadian government. The convoy organizers said they would not leave until the vaccine mandates expire.
Canadian Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said the government would not back down on the issue.
“We have put the issue of vaccines and vaccine mandates on the ballot… in the (2021) election and we are simply delivering on the promise we made with the support of the vast majority of Canadians,” he said on Sunday. CBC television. according to Reuters.
The blockade relied in part on funding from supporters in the US, police said.
GoFundMe has removed the convoy’s donation page, angering some US Republican lawmakers who promised to investigate the move through the website.
Four people have been charged with hate crimes, according to police, who were collaborating with the FBI to investigate threats against public figures.
Police said they were facing more than 60 criminal investigations, including for “mischief, theft, hate crimes and property damage,” the BBC reported.
Trudeau, who is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 last week, has said the convoy represented a “small marginal minority” and the government would not be intimidated.
About 90 percent of cross-border truck drivers in Canada and nearly 79 percent of the population have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Reuters reported.
A woman who drove for hours to join the protest in Ottawa said the action was “about our freedom.”
“A few people we know, friends, lost their jobs because of these mandates,” Kimberly Ball told Agence France-Presse, adding that she was concerned about the safety and effectiveness of the jabs.