He judges the situation “out of control”. Jim Watson, the mayor of Ottawa, Canada’s capital, declared a state of emergency on Sunday, February 6, as the city is paralyzed by opponents of health measures taken due to the Covid-19 epidemic. . The protests began on January 29 and spread Saturday and Sunday to other major Canadian cities: Toronto, Quebec and Winnipeg. Protesters say they want to continue their occupation until health restrictions are lifted.
Before declaring a state of emergency, Jim Watson judged “the situation completely out of control, because it is the protesters who make the law”. “We are losing the battle. (…) We must take back our city”, hammered the mayor of Ottawa. According to him, the behavior of the protesters who obstruct the streets of the city center and tirelessly sound the horns of their trucks is “unacceptable”.
The Ottawa police, criticized for not having been able to prevent the paralysis of the center of the capital, for its part announced its intention to prevent the supply of the protesters, in particular with fuel. “Anyone who tries to provide material support (fuel, etc.) to the demonstrators risks being arrested”, she warned on Twitter. In the evening, she claimed to have proceeded to “several arrests”.
IMPORTANT: Anyone attempting to deliver support materials (gas, etc.) to protesters will be subject to arrest. Enforcement measures are underway. #ottawa #ottnew pic.twitter.com/EU8b2XUVXL
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 6, 2022
7 people arrested, 100 tickets issued in Demonstration-Related Enforcement #ottnewshttps://t.co/SgiCdTuEf2
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 7, 2022
Originally, the objective of the movement, baptized “freedom convoy”, was to protest against the decision to oblige, since mid-January, truckers to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States. -United. But it quickly turned into a movement against health measures as a whole and also, for some, against the government of Justin Trudeau.