Opponents of health measures in Canada, some of whom have been occupying the center of the federal capital for a week, gathered on Saturday in Ottawa, Toronto, and Quebec to demand the lifting of restrictions imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
This protest movement, which started as a truck drivers' action in the western part of the country, turned into a sit-in in the center of Ottawa. For eight days, protesters and dozens of trucks have been occupying the streets in front of the parliament and the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's headquarters.
The first protesters arrived in the capital on Saturday morning amid severe cold, gathering around fires they lit, waving Canadian flags and signs opposing the government, in a more festive atmosphere than the previous Saturday when Nazi flags were seen, as reported by the Agence France-Presse.
Some began setting up temporary shelters as temperatures are expected to drop to minus thirty degrees Celsius, vowing not to leave before the restrictions are lifted. The police expect two thousand protesters to join the truck drivers on the streets of Ottawa, and also expect about a thousand people to participate in a counter-demonstration.
For the first time on Friday, the police toughened their tone concerning the protesters and threatened to "end this illegal and dangerously unacceptable demonstration," according to police chief Peter Sloly, who did not specify any particular date. Despite the dissatisfaction of Ottawa residents, the government ruled out the possibility of sending the army to remove the protesters. However, 150 additional police officers were deployed in the capital's streets. Ontario Premier Doug Ford again asked the protesters to leave Ottawa, considering the situation "unacceptable," after a petition demanding the police evacuate the protesters gathered about forty thousand signatures by Friday afternoon.
So far, no call has deterred the determined protesters, who originally gathered mainly to protest against mandatory vaccination for truck drivers crossing the border between Canada and the United States. Jim Torma, one of the protest coordinators, told Agence France-Presse: "We will stand against them for as long as needed to get rid of the restrictions."
Kimberly Paul, who came to protest with her husband after a five-hour car journey, said, "It's not a vaccine issue, it's our freedom." She added, "It's really tough... There are people we know, friends, who lost their jobs because of these vaccination-related restrictions."
The movement received support from billionaire Elon Musk and former U.S. President Donald Trump. Similar protests are taking place in the southern part of Alberta (west) and in the cities of Winnipeg (central), Toronto, and Quebec. Toronto police closed some downtown roads on Friday in an attempt to reduce disruptions that could affect access to emergency services and hospitals. The city's mayor, John Tory, said at a press conference that he hopes the protest will proceed "respectfully and peacefully." He added, "We all want to do everything we can to avoid a situation similar to what is happening in Ottawa."
The Ottawa police chief confirmed that Canadian authorities are now focusing on the people who "fund and allow this illegal and harmful protest."
A fundraising campaign on the "GoFundMe" website has so far raised over ten million Canadian dollars (6.8 million euros). The police said part of this amount came from the United States. The platform announced on Friday the suspension of the campaign and indicated that the remaining funds will be redistributed to charities.
Polls indicate that only a minority of Canadians (32 percent) support the truck drivers' movement, but this represents a larger segment than the unvaccinated population, which is 10 percent of Canadian adults. The health measures imposed by provinces in Canada remain very strict and are among the most stringent in the West. Quebec is one of the regions in the world where residents have undergone the longest number of isolation days.