by Carlos Osorio and Steve Scherer
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Police pushed through crowds of protesters in central Ottawa on Friday to dislodge them, making more than 100 arrests and moving vehicles that had blocked Canada’s federal capital for more than three weeks as part of a of a broad challenge to health restrictions.
Fearing an escalation of tensions and clashes, the police had sought to disperse the demonstrators by imposing fines and threatening to make arrests, in vain: hundreds of people had still massed during the day in the city center despite freezing temperatures and snowfall.
The police intervention gave rise to scenes of tension, while some protesters were forcibly extracted from their vehicles, while other demonstrators who faced the police were thrown to the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. .
In a statement, police said protesters exhibited “violent behavior” which necessitated an intervention to “clear essential space” by late afternoon.
Several dozen trucks were still parked in downtown Ottawa, although vehicles left the scene when police began making arrests.
Three of the protest organizers were arrested – two on Thursday and one on Friday.
“We’re going to operate this around the clock until the residents and the community recover their entire city,” Acting Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell told reporters.
Numerous roadblocks were erected by the security forces around the gathering place of the demonstrators in order to block any further arrivals as well as the delivery of food and fuel.
Some demonstrators have made it known that they do not intend to abdicate.
Initially intended to demand the removal of the vaccination obligation against COVID-19 for truck drivers, the demonstration gradually turned into an anti-government movement and a protest against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
(with David Ljunggren, Julie Gordon, Blair Gable, Lars Hagberg and Kyaw Soe Oo; French version Jean Terzian)