Protests against health restrictions “out of control” in Ottawa, according to its mayor

The situation in Ottawa is “out of control” judged Sunday the mayor of the Canadian capital, whose center has been blocked for more than a week by opponents of health measures in Canada.

Protests spread to other cities

The protests, which first gathered in Ottawa on Saturday January 29, spread to other major Canadian cities this weekend, as dozens of trucks and protesters continued to paralyze downtown. of Canada’s capital on Sunday.

“The current situation is completely out of control, because it is the protesters who make the law”, lamented the mayor Jim Watson on a local radio, noting that the demonstrators “are much more numerous than our police officers”.

A movement, baptized “freedom convoy”

“We are losing the battle, (…) we must take back our city”, hammered the mayor, judging “unacceptable” the behavior of the protesters who obstruct their streets and tirelessly honk the horns of their trucks.

The movement, dubbed “freedom convoy”, was originally intended to protest against the decision to force, since mid-January, truckers to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States, but it quickly turned into a movement against health measures as a whole and also, for some, against the government of Justin Trudeau.

Protesters say they want to continue their occupation until health restrictions are lifted. Similar movements but on a smaller scale took place in several major Canadian cities on Saturday, Toronto, Quebec and Winnipeg and continued on Sunday, in Quebec in particular.

In the capital of the French-speaking province, the demonstrators were less numerous than on Saturday, and around thirty trucks were still tolerated by the Quebec police, who however warned truckers that they would be in violation within a few hours.

A “state of siege”?

During an emergency meeting with elected municipal officials on Saturday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly complained that he did not have sufficient means to put an end to what he described as a “state of headquarters” and called for “additional resources”. The Ottawa police will soon receive the reinforcement of some 250 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), a federal police force.

Some 450 tickets have been handed out since Saturday morning, including for excessive noise or the use of fireworks, Ottawa police said Sunday, adding that protesters had engaged in disruptive or illegal behavior overnight that posed risks to public safety or increased the “distress” of the townspeople. A hundred investigations for offenses linked to the demonstration have also been opened.