Demonstrations in front of the country’s institutions, André sees dozens of them every year in Ottawa. A parade, sometimes two days of protest, and a return to calm. But not this time with the “Freedom Convoy”. Several hundred trucks are still blocking the streets of the city center, Wednesday, February 9.
“I’ve never seen this before. Everything is closed, he breathes. It’s a city that no longer works. I want my city. I want life back in the city. It’s really more of a capital, I’ve never seen that”. The Canadian capital has been facing, for twelve days, a movement of protest against the restrictions linked to Covid-19.
“Freedom convoy”: Ottawa residents outraged by protests. The report by Sébastien Paour
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Ottawa is “surrounded” for Guy, who has lived here since 1988: “For the vast majority of people, it is a siege, an occupation”. Don drinks a coffee to warm himself up watching the trucks and campfires in front of Parliament. He does not understand that the demonstrators are not dislodged by the police. “They’re barbecuing here! This music… These people need to be fired”. According to him, it is necessary to show that the institutions are still standing.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke his silence on Monday to express his wish that “it ceases”. But the federal government does not intervene, much to the chagrin of Michael, a former police officer: “Me, I have the impression that the police officers, really, are not involved and should be. I don’t have the impression that the federal government will move. It is obvious that Mr. Trudeau has decided that ‘He didn’t want to negotiate with others.
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In the end, André describes a city as occupied, where distrust has settled: “I’m going to the pharmacy which is on the other side of the canal. I have to knock on the door to get them to let me in, because people are trying to come in without a mask. You have to have a reason to go.” System D, populations that do not understand each other… Guy believes that the way out of the crisis will be complicated: “I hope that all of this will end without the possibility of resuming in the spring or this summer.”
“We don’t want this anymore, we want this to end and the protesters to get nothing and be done with them.”
Guy, resident of Ottawaat franceinfo
Guy walks away, his ice skates tied by their laces around his neck. He goes skating on the canal, as before.