Copycat protests erupt in other cities
But workers in the city’s downtown expressed fury with the ongoing presence of the truckers.
Emma, a waitress at a nearby bar, said she sympathised with the frustrations of lockdowns. “I’ve lost my job four times during the pandemic. It sucks. And it really, really sucks when you’re 48 and you have two kids,” she said. “But this is insanity and it isn’t helping”, she added, pointing to the protesters.
The so-called “Freedom Convoy” which descended on Ottawa in response to requirements that unvaccinated truckers quarantine after crossing the US-Canadian border has since mushroomed into a widespread protest against coronavirus measures and Mr Trudeau’s leadership.
Copycat protests have erupted in several cities and by Tuesday had forced the temporary closure of a key Canadian-US border bridge, a main artery of the country’s trade supply.
Amid a state of emergency in Ottawa, federal police have been deployed but they face significant obstacles in removing the hundreds of truck cabins gridlocking the city’s downtown.
Ottawa’s deputy police chief Steve Bell says attempts to evacuate the convoy have been complicated by the number of children in the encampment.
Almost a quarter of the roughly 418 trucks stationed downtown “have children living in them — children who could be at risk during a police operation,” Mr Bell said.
Mr Bell added that officials had “a multitude of concerns” about the children’s welfare, including the effects of carbon monoxide, diesel fumes, cold weather, noise and a lack of access to sanitation.
The recent events appear to have prompted a shift in tone from Mr Trudeau, who a day earlier had dismissed the protesters as “a few people shouting and waving swastikas”.
Speaking from parliament, Mr Trudeau expressed more empathy with fed up Canadians, saying he understood “how frustrated everyone is”.
“We’re all sick and tired of restrictions, of mandates, of having to make sacrifices,” he said, but added that vaccine mandates were the “way to avoid further restrictions”.
