Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in 50 years, to quell the trucker protests in the country against coronavirus mandates. Earlier, the police had arrested 11 people with a "cache of firearms" blocking a border crossing with the United States. As news agency AFP reported, Trudeau said the military would not be deployed at this stage, but authorities would be granted more powers to arrest protesters and seize their trucks in order to clear blockades, as well as ban funding of the protests.
Thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital Ottawa last month, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.
Trudeau said one must be “very, very cautious” about deploying troops on Canadian soil, adding there has been no such request to the federal government. He said any formal requests for assistance from the City of Ottawa or Ontario will be considered. Organisers had raised millions for the cross-country “freedom truck convoy” against vaccine mandates and other restrictions.
It has attracted support from former US President Donald Trump. Ottawa's mayor, meanwhile, is calling on several opposition Conservative lawmakers to apologize for praising the protesters and posing with them. A photo posted by one of the lawmakers shows them some giving the thumbs-up—in front of one of the protest trucks, which have been barricading roads and honking horns in the city almost non-stop.
The busiest US-Canada border crossing reopened last Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week, the owner announced. The bridge's owner, Detroit International Bridge Co., said in a statement that the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again.
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said earlier that more than two dozen people were peacefully arrested, seven vehicles were towed and five were seized near the bridge that links the city and numerous Canadian automotive plants with Detroit.
