OTTAWA: Canadian police were working on Saturday restore normality to the country’s capital after trucks and demonstrators occupied the downtown core of Ottawa for more than three weeks to protest against pandemic restrictions.
The push to clear the city began on Friday and continued into the night.
Four of the main organisers have already been taken into custody and more than 100 protesters have been arrested as hundreds of officers, including some on horseback, formed lines and slowly pushed them away from their vehicles.
There were many tense moments on Friday. Some protesters were dragged from their vehicles, and others who resisted the police advance were thrown to the ground and had their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Police said protesters had showed “assaultive behavior”, and once police on horseback were brought in to “create space”, according to a statement.
The protesters initially wanted an end to cross-border Covid-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers, but the blockade has gradually turned into an anti-government and anti-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demonstration.
“Our demands aren’t ridiculous. We want mandates and lockdowns dropped,” said a truck driver from Manitoba who gave his name only as Gord. He said he could not work anymore because of cross-border vaccine mandates. On Friday, he vowed to stay parked in front of parliament and said he was waiting to be arrested.
Trudeau on Monday invoked emergency powers to give his government wider authority to stop the protests. Legislators had been due to debate those temporary powers on Friday but the House of Commons suspended its session, citing police activity.
After the protest crowds swelled on the three previous weekend, police set up 100 road blocks around the downtown core on Friday to deny people access and prevent food and fuel from getting in. Police said they had towed 21 vehicles on Friday.
As police cleared protesters from the streets, at least a dozen tow trucks came in to remove trucks and other protest vehicles still parked downtown.
Late Friday night, Ottawa police, who pledged the operation would push ahead “until residents and citizens have their city back”, were still working to clear the capital’s streets.
No one was seriously hurt in the clearance operation, with Ottawa interim police chief Steve Bell saying efforts were going as planned but would take time.
Some truckers, who had led the protests that kicked off three weeks ago and choked Ottawa’s streets with big rigs and demonstators by the hundreds, chose to leave on their own, removing their 18-wheelers from the streets surrounding parliament.
An AFP journalist saw several demonstrators led away in handcuffs as police and tow trucks moved in, although most simply surrendered.
A few demonstrators were wrestled to the ground, and at least one who refused to exit his truck had his windows smashed and was dragged out by police.
At its peak, the “Freedom Convoy” movement also included blockades of US-Canada border crossings, including a key trade route across a bridge between Ontario and Detroit, Michigan — all of which have been lifted after costing the economy billions of dollars, according to the government.
Most of the protest’s leaders have been arrested. Far-right activist Pat King was taken into custody early Friday afternoon as he left town, livestreaming his own apprehension on Facebook.
Two other leaders, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, were arrested on Thursday evening.
Lich, 49, was heard telling truckers as she was being led away by police to “hold the line”.
The movement’s Twitter account was still rallying supporters earlier on Friday: “If you disagree with unlawful and unprecedented government overreach, drop whatever you are doing, and make your voice heard,” it said.
Police this week arrested dozens of protesters at border crossings, including four people charged with conspiracy to murder police officers at a checkpoint between Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana.
They seized dozens of vehicles as well as a cache of weapons that included rifles, handguns, body armour and ammunition.
Authorities also froze the bank accounts of protesters and chocked off crowdfunding and cryptocurrency transactions supporting the truckers.
A police officer stands by as a truck leaves Parliament Hill during a protest over pandemic health rules and the Trudeau government, in Ottawa on Friday night. (AFP Photo)