Police seize fuel, remove oil tanker; court silences protesters' horns in Canada
Police in Canada's capital, Ottawa seized thousands of liters of fuel and removed an oil tanker as part of a crackdown to end an 11-day protest against COVID-19 measures.
The protest, which has gridlocked Ottawa, has been largely peaceful but ear-splitting horn blaring by protesters saw a court on Monday grant an interim injunction preventing people from sounding horns in the city's downtown.
The so-called "Freedom Convoy" consisting of truckers and other motorists started as a movement opposing a Canadian vaccine mandate for cross-border drivers - a requirement mirrored by a U.S. rule - has morphed into a rallying point against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau' public health measures.
Trudeau, who appeared on Monday for the first time in nearly a week after being infected by COVID, said the protest has to stop. Responding to an emergency debate in the parliament, Trudeau denounced the tactics used by demonstrators.
Canadians have largely followed government's health measures and nearly 79% of the eligible population has taken two doses of the vaccine. But recent polls have shown frustrations against restrictions are growing.
While Ottawa awoke to its second week of what its political and policing leaders now describe as a siege, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said on Monday activity has decreased at the blockades. This weekend, police counted 1,000 trucks and 5,000 protesters, down from 3,000 trucks and 10,000 to 15,000 protesters last weekend, Sloly added.
On Monday, a Canadian judge granted a 10-day injunction preventing people from sounding horns in downtown Ottawa. The injunction was part of a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of downtown Ottawa residents, some of whom have said they feel unsafe in their own neighbourhood.
On Sunday night, police began removing gas and fuel supplies at a logistics encampment set up by protesters after the city's mayor declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
Protests spill over
Over the weekend, protests spilled over into other large Canadian cities, including the financial capital Toronto, and were met with counter demonstrations.
A truck-convoy protest near the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S., caused long traffic backups along the span from the Detroit side of the Detroit River. And in Alaska, more than 100 truck drivers rallied in support of their counterparts in Canada by driving the 10 miles from Anchorage to Eagle River, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have praised the truckers.
Canada’s public safety minister said Monday that U.S. officials should stay out of his country’s domestic affairs, joining other Canadian leaders in pushing back against prominent Republicans who offered support for the protests of COVID-19 restrictions that have besieged downtown Ottawa for more than a week.
The truckers and their horn-blaring supporters have become darlings of conservative activists around the world, inspiring copycat actions in Europe and worries of the same in the U.S.
On social media, truckers in Europe and the U.S. have begun discussing similar actions, with some American social-media groups sharing a proposed route from California to Washington and New York.
Social media have given immense reach to the Canadian protest. On Tik Tok, #freedomconvoy2022 videos had accumulated nearly 200 million views by Monday afternoon. On Facebook, posts mentioning the protest on U.S.-based pages have seen more interactions than those on Canadian pages, according to data analyzed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, or ISD, a Britain-based organization that studies extremism and misinformation.
Although Canadian authorities have identified people in the U.S. as a source of funding for the protest, ISD has tracked groups in Sweden, Australia, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Greece that shared crowdfunding links with followers. A separate Bitcoin funding campaign has drawn donations from across Europe, the U.S., Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador.
New Zealand supporters tweet Convoy2022nz
In New Zealand this weekend, social-media videos showed trucks passing by people with “It’s not about health it’s about control” signs and farm tractors clogging a freeway.
Trucks, utes, vehicles and hundreds of New Zealand flags marked the Freedom Convoy’s journey north after they left Bluff on Sunday.
The Freedom Convoy making its way through North Canterbury/Image:Stuff
Destined to meet up with the North Island convoy at Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday, organisers were protesting Covid-19 mandates, the Bill of Rights, and censorship.
A large group of motorbikes, cars and trucks arrived outside parliament about 11am on Tuesday, coming to a stop on Molesworth St, and several thousand are now on Parliament's lawn.
Protesters supporting The Freedom Convoy on Parliament's forecourt and lawn in Wellington Image / nzherald
Protesters have also parked at the bottom of Lambton Quay - blocking traffic heading into Parliament.
They are protesting against the Government's ongoing Covid rules and restrictions, including the vaccine mandate introduced last year.
Both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National leader Christopher Luxon said they had no intention of engaging with the protesters.
The movement - dubbed the Convoy 2022 - has attracted people from all around the country.
-Reuters/Ap/Nzherald