The police continued their operations on Saturday to dislodge truckers and their supporters who have been blocking part of the capital’s city center for twenty-three days. The Canadian press breathes a sigh of relief while being very critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“The cavalry has arrived. We would have liked her to show up earlier, but hey, she’s there, in mass and strength, in the snowy heart of Ottawa, writing The Press. Street by street, meter by meter, it sounds the death knell of the ‘freedom convoy’” and of “one of the most absurd episodes in Canadian history”.
With a security perimeter established on February 17 around the occupied zone, which includes Parliament Hill, “about a thousand police officers took part in the operations”, relate Radio Canada. More than a hundred protesters were arrested, including four leaders: David Bulford, Pat King, Tamara Lich and Christopher John Barder. More than twenty vehicles have already been towed.
Controversial application of an emergency law
Canadian MPs resumed their debate on Saturday on the use of the Emergencies Act to end protests that had spread to Ottawa and several places across the country. A vote is scheduled for Monday night on this first application of legislation passed in 1988. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is taking the government to court for implementing it, signal CTV News. Its director, Mendelsohn Aviv, considers Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to be ”extraordinaire” and “unconstitutional” and overrides the normal processes of democracy.
the Globe and Mail affirms that Justin Trudeau’s actions and statements over the past six months have contributed to the “mess” today by publicly vilifying truckers who refused vaccination mandates. The newspaper adds:
The Prime Minister must accept much of the responsibility for one of the largest police operations in Canadian history.”
The duty judge on his side that the ”cirque’’ of the “Freedom Convoy” which besieged part of Ottawa ”would never have happened if the local police and city authorities had not tolerated such a massive and widely spread settlement around the political compound, which led to the creation of a small town teeming with ‘activities”.
Sadness and apprehension for the future
Anticipating the end of the protest whose images have gone around the world, the conservative daily National Post valued that this is not the time for jubilation. ”On the contrary, there is a feeling of deep sadness and apprehension for the future”. Stating that no country can stand idly by while its capital city is occupied by a mob struggling to articulate its goals or how to achieve them, the Toronto newspaper concludes:
The grievances that sparked the protests were ignored and the experience will have radicalized its participants.”
For the time being, in any case, the Canadians seem to have abandoned the cause of the truckers. One survey published on February 14 revealed that 72% of respondents felt it was time for the protesters to go home.
Martin Gauthier