Going nose-to-nose with protesters, police began arresting people and towing away vehicles Friday in a bid to break the three-week siege of Canada’s capital by hundreds of truckers angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
A police officer stands watch as tow operator removes a truck from a blockade on Daly Ave. in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Police began arresting protesters Friday in a bid to break the three-week, traffic-snarling siege of Canada's capital by hundreds of truckers angry over the country's COVID-19 restrictions.
Tow truck operators — wearing neon-green ski masks, with their companies’ decals taped over on their trucks to conceal their identities — arrived under police escort and got to work removing the big rigs, campers and other vehicles parked bumper to bumper and shoulder to shoulder near Parliament. Some protesters surrendered and several trucks pulled out as the crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy unfolded. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said around midday: “There are indications we are now starting to see progress.”“Freedom was never free,” said trucker Kevin Homaund, of Montreal. “So what if they put the handcuffs on us and they put us in jail?”
With police and the government facing accusations that they let the protests gain strength and spread, Trudeau on Monday invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act, giving law enforcement extraordinary authority to declare the blockades illegal, tow away trucks, arrest the drivers, suspend their licenses and freeze their bank accounts.
Ottawa police had made it clear for days that they were preparing to end the protest and remove the more than 300 trucks at any moment. On Friday, even as the operation was underway, police issued another round of warnings via social media and loudspeaker, offering protesters one more chance to leave and avoid arrest.“This is not Canada. We don’t need a split country!” one woman yelled.
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