State of Emergency Declared in Ottawa to Stop Anti-Vaccine Protests

The situation in Ottawa is “out of control”, said this Sunday (06.02.2022) the mayor of the Canadian capital, Jim Watson, who decided in the evening hours to declare a state of emergency. The center of the city has been blocked for more than a week by opponents of the sanitary measures against the coronavirus. Watson called “unacceptable” the behavior of protesters, who block streets, and truckers, who do not stop honking their horns.
“This shows the danger and threat to the safety of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and reveals the need for help from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” Watson said in a statement. Amid complaints from neighbors, who lament the lack of response from the authorities, the police began to move the demonstrators and clean the barricades.
Earlier, the mayor had said on a local radio that “the situation is currently out of control because the protesters impose their law,” because “they are many more than our policemen.” The mayor admitted that they were losing the battle against groups made up mainly of anti-vaccines, who assure that they will remain on the street until all sanitary restrictions are lifted.
More police officers
The movement, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy,” initially targeted the decision to force truckers to be vaccinated against covid to cross the U.S. border. The protest then morphed into a mobilization against all sanitary measures and against the very government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The protests, which were held in Ottawa for the first time on Saturday 29, spread this weekend to other large Canadian cities such as Toronto, Quebec and Winnipeg, although in smaller volume. Ottawa’s police chief lamented not having enough means to end what he called a “state of siege” and called for “additional resources.” Initially, 250 members of the royal gendarmerie will arrive to help control the situation.

Original source in Spanish