As Ottawa residents awoke to their 12th day of protest occupying the core of the Canadian capital, Canada protest rippled beyond, with a new road blockade temporarily cutting off Canada’s busiest connection to the United States and a copycat convoy spreading to New Zealand and Australia.
Truckers and their supporters protesting covid-19 restrictions have shaken Canada’s usually orderly national capital and presented a difficult challenge for federal law enforcement and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, both of which have failed to put down the protesters.
Several protesters and organizers wear Nazi symbols and desecrate public monuments, making them obvious fringe elements. Yet others described themselves as ordinary Canadians who took to the streets due to desperation after nearly two years of pandemic restrictions.
Present Scenario of Protest
A new Canada protest blocked the bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit on Monday, further raising concerns about the economic fallout from the crisis.
This bridge is crucial to the automobile industry, an important sector of the Canadian economy, which depends on the constant movement of automobile parts and components across the border to keep factories in Ontario and the Midwest humming.
Almost the majority of the trucks in the Windsor protest were decked in banners and posters criticizing Trudeau and vaccine mandates.
Traffic entering and exiting the bridge in Quebec was blocked by heavy trucks and private vehicles, blocking it in both directions. According to Windsor police, an alternate bridge entrance allowed traffic to begin cautiously going back to the United States on Tuesday morning.
Canada’s protests against Covid vaccine certification to cross the border have paralyzed trade across the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario.
A judge issued an order on Friday to break up the protest, but dozens of demonstrators remained in defiance.
Police have now cleared the road, though the bridge remains closed.
In a statement, police said Sunday’s action resulted in over a dozen arrests on a charge of mischief – which refers to damage or interference with property. Multiple vehicles were also seized, police said, none of the arrests became violent.
The clearing effort first began on Saturday morning, when many of the vehicles involved left peacefully on police orders. But as news of the police action spread, more protesters turned up, temporarily swelling the crowd.
Last But Not Least
While the January demonstration in Ottawa is far from over, an injunction prohibiting horn honking and authorizing police to arrest or remove those who break the order gave residents a reprieve overnight, and Ottawa’s streets were quieter on Tuesday, despite the presence of more than 400 truckers still parked downtown.
Stay with StandfordsArt Review for more updates.
