(Ottawa) Protesters have left downtown Ottawa and blockades at border crossings have ended. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, however, believes that a state of emergency is still necessary. He asks elected officials to support the motion to maintain it. The vote is due to take place on Monday evening.
Posted at 11:49
“I call on all parliamentarians to act against illegal blockades and to stand up for public safety and the freedom of Canadians,” he said at a press conference.
He invoked the fact that demonstrators who had gathered in Embrun in Eastern Ontario indicated their desire to resume the demonstration in Ottawa. Among the extraordinary measures still necessary, according to him, is therefore that of forcing towing companies to remove trucks which could return to block the streets of the federal capital.
The “Freedom Convoy” protest paralyzed downtown Ottawa for 24 days. When passing from The Press As of Monday morning, only three protesters remained near the Canadian War Museum, located about two kilometers from Parliament Hill. The hundred police checkpoints to get to the city center were still in place and large metal fences still blocked certain streets. No traffic — car, cyclist or pedestrian — was tolerated on Wellington Street except for accredited employees.
Just over five kilometers from downtown, the camp erected near the baseball stadium on Coventry Road has been completely evacuated, according to Ottawa police. Officers remained on site to prevent people from returning.
The vote on the government’s decision to invoke the Emergency Measures Act must take place at 8 p.m. The motion is expected to pass with the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Its leader, Jagmeet Singh, however, had not ruled out withdrawing his support if he deemed that it was no longer necessary. He must also address the media at 12:30 p.m.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden compared the Trudeau government’s use of this legislation to measures worthy of China or Russia. The law which grants extraordinary powers to the government is however framed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“Governments who feel they have the authority to ‘freeze people’s bank accounts’ because they want to end a protest are tyrannical and lewd,” he wrote on Twitter. If you objected to such measures in China or Russia, you must object to those in Canada. »
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) is calling for the state of emergency to be revoked before the scheduled vote in the House of Commons tonight or urging all MPs to vote against the motion to extend it.
“The proclamation of the state of emergency by the government was clear: it claimed to have to invoke the extraordinary Emergency Measures Act to deal with barriers. These are now lifted, ”said its director general, Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, in a press release.
She considers that the risk of abuse by the police remains significant, in particular for the freezing of bank accounts without judicial control – one of the extraordinary powers authorized by the decree. The Association had already indicated last week its intention to challenge the use of the Emergency Measures Act before the courts.
More details to come.