Federal capital police say they used a ‘chemical irritant’ on protesters, who have been protesting for more than three weeks against sanitary measures.
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The atmosphere is increasingly tense, Saturday, February 19, between the police and the hundreds of truckers who are still paralyzing the center of Ottawa (Canada), protesting for more than three weeks against the anti-Covid-19 sanitary measures. The police launched a vast operation at the end of the week to dislodge the last demonstrators.
“Protesters continue to be aggressive and attack officers”authorities tweeted. “They refuse to obey orders to move”they assure, specifying to have used a “chemical irritant” against them. The police, who surrounded the demonstrators and destroyed the windows of trucks, faced jets of smoke and a human chain.
Protesters continue to be aggressive and attack officers. They refuse to obey orders to move. You will have seen officers use a chemical irritant in order to stop aggressive behavior and for officer safety. https://t.co/UNQazVTj1S
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 19, 2022
“We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. We were slow and methodical, but you were aggressive towards the officers and the horses.”, city officials also tweeted. More than 100 people were arrested on Friday, including three figures from the protest movement, and around twenty vehicles were towed.
Minimized at the start by the authorities, this movement called “Convoy of freedom”, initiated at the end of January, started from truckers protesting against the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States. But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.