Posted on 02/13/22
| News Source: Washington Post
Canada’s capital saw an influx Saturday of anti-government and anti-vaccine-mandate demonstrators for a third straight weekend, while police in Ontario moved in to clear protesters partially blocking a vital U.S.-Canada border crossing in defiance of an injunction ordering them to leave.
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said Saturday morning that they had “commenced enforcement” at the Ambassador Bridge, a key trade corridor to Detroit. By late morning, police had begun steadily pushing protesters away from the bridge. Late Saturday night, protesters and police were at a stalemate near the barricaded bridge.
Across the Atlantic, French protesters, galvanized by their Canadian counterparts, temporarily blocked the fabled Champs-Élysées, a central artery in Paris, despite an order banning them from entering the capital.
As another week drew to a close, the global spread of a movement that began with a minority of Canadian truckers objecting to vaccination requirements had come into focus. From Europe to Australia, demonstrations replicating the tactics and slogans of the Canadian convoy mounted challenges to authorities. Politicians and police sought to contain protests with mixed results, as threats of punishment did little to deter demonstrators who vowed to return in the weeks to come.
It was one of several warnings issued Friday to protesters of the self-styled “Freedom Convoy,” which has taken over the capital city. Protesters have blockaded several U.S.-Canada border crossings and inspired similar protests abroad.
Protesters turned up anyway.
Police officers by the Ambassador Bridge on Saturday stood in a line in front of blockaders on one side, while some police vehicles were stationed on the opposite side. They were accompanied by buses, including a school bus, and ambulances.
Windsor police tweeted Saturday evening that they were towing and ticketing vehicles there.
Some vehicles began moving away from the area, while demonstrators on foot displayed the Canadian flag and sang the country’s national anthem, chanting “Freedom!” periodically. Protesters began dismantling tents at the site and packing up grilling supplies.
A wall of police officers slowly pushed protesters away from the bridge, warning that demonstrators would be arrested if they did not leave.
But more people on foot had swelled the protesters’ ranks by early afternoon, with demonstrators appearing to outnumber police officers, according to reporters from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News, Canada’s public broadcaster.
Hundreds of people joined a counterprotest Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, marching and chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, this trucker convoy has got to go!”
An Ontario judge granted an injunction on Friday, ordering the demonstrators to leave the bridge. Auto industry groups, with the backing of the city of Windsor, sought the injunction. The judge gave protesters until 7 p.m. Friday to leave the area.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the blockade a “siege” and declared a provincial state of emergency Friday, warning protesters of “severe” consequences, including fines up to $78,500 and prison terms. He said he would convene a provincial cabinet on Saturday to urgently enact measures to make it “crystal clear” that it is illegal to block critical infrastructure.
Still, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the grounds of the Ontario legislature on Saturday, Canadian television network Global News reported – even as the city issued an extreme cold weather alert. Temperatures were expected to dip to 5 degrees Saturday night.
In Nova Scotia, protesters on Saturday blocked the Marine Atlantic terminal in North Sydney – the launch point for important ferry routes to Canada’s easternmost provinces. Demonstrations also have targeted border crossings in Manitoba and Alberta, as well as Sarnia in Ontario.
In Paris, protesters blocking parts of the Champs-Élysées on Saturday cut off traffic on parts of the capital’s most recognizable avenue and the roundabout that encircles the Arc de Triomphe.
The protesters made it into central Paris, despite an order banning them from entering the capital and the deployment of more than 7,000 police officers. Authorities said earlier in the day that they had prevented 500 vehicles from entering and had penalized hundreds of people.
Similar convoys headed to other European cities on Saturday. In the Netherlands, traffic came to a standstill in parts of The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government. Officials in the Belgian capital of Brussels were bracing for convoys that may arrive there Monday, despite an entry ban.
Back in North America, Ambassador Bridge is a crucial conduit for the auto industry on both sides of the border, and the blockade has disrupted auto plants as far away as Alabama.
At least five automakers – Ford, GM, Honda, Chrysler’s parent company and Toyota – have experienced production disruptions at their U.S. or Canada plants because of the protests, according to news reports.
Ottawa police called for reinforcements this past week, saying they lacked the resources to dismantle the protests.
The Ottawa Police Service said in a news release Saturday that it had established a command center to handle the influx of more than 4,000 protesters. It noted concerns about safety “arising from aggressive, illegal behaviour by many demonstrators.”
“We have a plan to end this unlawful occupation and await the necessary reinforcements to do so,” the statement said.
Protesters draped in Canadian flags stood in the snow in front of the Parliament building on Saturday as horns blared from trucks despite a court order forbidding honking. The atmosphere was celebratory and defiant, with some demonstrators dancing along to upbeat music blasting from speakers. Children bundled in hats and coats held signs reading “Go Truckers.” Police were scarce.
Trudeau on Saturday was slated to chair a meeting of the incident response group, an emergency committee made up of some cabinet ministers and other senior officials, “on the ongoing illegal blockades,” his office said.
The convoy started as a protest of U.S. and Canadian rules requiring truckers crossing the border to be fully vaccinated. But it has grown into a broader movement against pandemic restrictions – which are mostly imposed by the provinces – and the Trudeau government.
Officials have noted that 90% of Canadian truck drivers are fully vaccinated. The Canadian Trucking Alliance, an industry group, has distanced itself from the protests. Many of the key organizers are not truckers but figures in fringe extremist and anti-government groups. Some protesters have flown Confederate flags or flags with swastikas on them, while some Ottawa residents say they have been intimidated, subjected to racist vitriol and harassed for wearing masks.
Troy Holman, a 32-year-old Windsor resident who has protested this past week, told the Associated Press that the government overreached with its pandemic restrictions, which he said hurt his wife’s small business.
“Unfortunately, we have to be here, because this is what’s going to get the attention of the government,” Holman said at the Ambassador Bridge, before the judge’s ruling was announced.
Victoria Stecjuk, who made the six-hour journey from London, Ontario, to Ottawa for this weekend’s protests, said the state of emergency – and the frigid weather – would do little to deter demonstrators.
“We’re going to keep coming, we’re here in this weather, we’re not going to stop,” she told The Washington Post. “We’re doing this to get our freedom back, and that’s why we’re here.”
Protesters in the capital appeared skeptical that the police would crack down.
“We are a peaceful bunch. I don’t believe the police are even going to make a move on this,” Mike Cohen of Montreal said. “The police are not going to come here and arrest people when there’s children here, there’s the elderly, there’s people of all nationalities.”
Protesters have tapped into broader pandemic fatigue and benefited in part from foreign support. Trudeau said Friday after a call with President Joe Biden that at least 50% of fundraising for the convoy on some websites has originated from the United States.
Toronto-Dominion Bank said Saturday that it had frozen two personal bank accounts into which more than $1 million had been deposited to support the convoy protesters, Reuters reported. TD asked Ontario’s high court on Friday to take the funds and to either send them to the intended recipients or return them to donors.
Keith Wilson, a lawyer for the convoy, told Reuters that the protesters would seek a court order next week to release the donations to a new nonprofit organization set up to manage them.
Right-wing political figures in the United States continued to express support for the Canadian demonstrators. “Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in an interview with the conservative website Daily Signal. He added: “I hope the truckers do come to America.”