In the Canadian capital Ottawa, truck drivers continue to demonstrate against the corona measures. They meet with great international interest from like-minded people and are already finding imitators.
Truck drivers are still blocking the streets of the Canadian capital Ottawa.
For ten days protest truck drivers in Ottawa against the government’s corona measures. With around 1,000 trucks, around 5,000 demonstrators block the Canadian capital and keep the citizens awake with their constant honking, even at night. The exhaust fumes from trucks driving around also pollute people.
Now the residents, the police and the government are running out of patience. The Ontario Supreme Court issued an injunction banning honking for 10 days. Business owners in the city center are also frustrated because they had to close their shops because of the blockade. In the shops that are still open, customers wearing masks have been harassed by demonstrators. The protesters themselves demonstratively enter the shops without masks and become abusive if they are not served.
The cops are on the defensive
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency on Sunday and asked the government for 1,800 more police officers. “The demonstrators have far more people than we have police officers,” he said. “We are clearly outnumbered and are losing this fight.” That must be prevented. “We have to take back our city.”
The chief of police spoke of a “siege” and a threat to democracy. Taking fuel to the demonstration has been banned since Sunday. Several participants were arrested, vehicles confiscated and hundreds of fines distributed. Hate crimes are also under investigation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to support the city and province with any means necessary. “The protests have to stop,” he said.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks about the trucker protest during an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada February 7, 2022. REUTERS/Blair Gable
The action began on January 29th with the arrival of a truck convoy. The so-called “Freedom Convoy” drove from British Columbia in the west of the country to the parliament building in the capital. The original reason was the rule that unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers returning from the USA must be in quarantine for two weeks.
The protests soon spread to general corona measures and are now primarily aimed at Prime Minister Trudeau. He had tested positive for Covid-19 at the beginning of the demonstrations and went into isolation. The fact that the politician, who had been vaccinated three times, became infected, although he always attached importance to wearing a mask and observing the rules of distance, must now be used at the rally as proof of the ineffectiveness of the measures.
International Echo
Similar rallies have since taken place in other Canadian cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Québec. At times, a Canadian-US border crossing was also blocked. American truck drivers are apparently planning a similar convoy from California to Washington. According to the portal political similar convoys are planned in many European countries; the one in Belgium, for example, is scheduled to arrive in Brussels on February 14.
A person waves a Canadian flag in front of a truck, as truckers and supporters continue to protest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 5, 2022. REUTERS/Lars Hagberg
The hashtag #FreedomConvoy has been shared 1.2 million times on Facebook worldwide. Images and slogans of the demonstration are also cheered and spread by right-wing extremist groups in the USA, Australia and Germany. The corresponding Facebook group has 700,000 followers. Fundraisers have raised millions of dollars for the protesters. Tucker Carlson, the popular Fox News commentator, also featured in his February 7 show very excited about what he called the “uprising” in Ottawa.
The news website of CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, is already speculated about it at lengthwhether it would even be possible to tow away all the trucks blocking Ottawa’s roads against the will of the drivers. Apparently, with the brakes engaged for all wheels, this would be difficult if not impossible; quite apart from the question of whether the drivers of the towing services would really get involved in a confrontation with hundreds of angry “colleagues”.
So if there really was a showdown between the demonstrators and the police, the truck drivers would have some leverage. But the protest movement can hardly hope for support from the general public. The majority of Canadians support the pandemic measures, according to a recent poll. More than 77 percent are fully vaccinated.