Ottawa to arrest anyone bringing fuel to Covid 'Freedom Convoy' truckers after state of emergency declared

Armed police in Ottawa have begun seizing fuel from truckers protesting Canada’s vaccine mandate after a state of emergency was declared over the “worst crisis the city has ever faced.”

Ottawa's Mayor declared the emergency to help deal with an unprecedented 11-day occupation by protesting truckers, who have crippled the national capital.

A stretch of trucks in downtown Ottawa is blocking Canada's parliament, central bank, and buildings including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office.

“The situation at this point is completely out of control,” Mayor Jim Watson said. “The individuals with the protest are calling the shots. They have far more people than we have police officers.”

The "Freedom Convoy" consisting largely of truckers began as a movement against a Canadian vaccine requirement for cross-border drivers, but it has since evolved into a rallying point against Mr Trudeau's strict measures to fight the pandemic.

The liberal leader said he would not reverse the vaccine mandate and has refused to meet with members of the groups, which he described as a “fringe minority.”

Police tickets and investigations

Anger over his policies has galvanised thousands of demonstrators in cities across the country from Ottawa and Quebec City to Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Signs erected by members of the far-right People’s Party of Canada have read: “Make freedom great again!” and “Choice, not Mandate.”

Diane Deans, Ottawa’s Police Services Board Chairwoman, described the situation as a “nationwide insurrection.”

Late Sunday night, heavily armed police seized a tanker truck with more than 3,500 litres of diesel fuel from a staging area used by the truckers, as protesters yelled "Shame, shame" and "On the wrong side of history".

Braving the below freezing temperatures, many of the demonstrators carried jerrycans in protest at the seizure. "Is that your property?" one yelled as they watched police carry dozens of containers of fuel away.  

“The behaviour has been completely reprehensible, and the organisers - and I call them that loosely - should be ashamed,” Mr Watson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "Clearly, we are outnumbered and we are losing this battle," he said, adding: "This has to be reversed - we have to get our city back."

Police issued a warning to the public that they could be subject to charges if they were found to be supplying demonstration trucks with fuel.

Ottawa Police Service said in a statement Sunday it had launched over 60 criminal investigations in relation to the ongoing protests, including thefts, hate crimes and property damage.

They say a well-organised supply chain - including a community kitchen and bouncy castles for children - has sustained the protesters and could continue to do so for weeks.

It has relied partly on funding from “sympathisers” in the US police added. Former President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among those who have praised the truckers.

There was also evidence of pushback from residents. Small signs in the ground-floor windows of an apartment building a few blocks away said "GO HOME MORONS" and "VACCINES SAVE LIVES."

An Ottawa court will hear an application for an injunction to end the loud honking the residents say has become incessant and unbearable.

Snipers stood guard on the roof of the stadium and hotel, on either side of the parking lot, as police moved and protesters yelled, "shame, shame."

The Ottawa Police Service issued a statement shortly after the action saying that two people were arrested at the Coventry Road site for mischief and that "multiple vehicles" were seized.

Polls have shown that a majority of Canadians support public health measures to contain the pandemic, while nearly 80 per cent of the eligible population has taken double dose of the vaccine.

However, the number of Canadians who would like to see restrictions end has risen in recent weeks, and the demonstrations have tapped into pandemic fatigue across the country after months of lockdowns.

While governments and public health officials have emphasised the need for lockdowns and restrictions to prevent a catastrophe, the polls suggested a growing number of Canadians are unhappy with how their governments are handling the pandemic.

Nationwide protests

Similar, although smaller, demonstrations also hit the cities of Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver and Winnipeg over the weekend. 

In Toronto, Canada's largest city, police controlled and later ended a much smaller protest by setting up road blocks and preventing any trucks or cars from getting near the provincial legislature. Police also moved in to clear a key intersection in the city.

In Vancouver, five people were arrested on Saturday for allegedly adding to the general havoc as police received reports of "rocks and eggs being thrown, cars being kicked, and nails being strewn on roadways," police said. Several hundred vehicles traveled through the city en route to the demonstration, Vancouver Police said.

The five people were taken to jail and have since been released from custody, police said.

Police in Quebec said some 30 big trucks were blocking a major artery. They have now left but vowed to return after a two-week winter festival in the city is over.

In Winnipeg, a man was arrested after allegedly driving a vehicle into a crowded "Freedom Convoy" protest and striking four people on Friday, according to a statement from the Winnipeg Police Department.

Canadians torn

Many Canadians have been outraged over the crude behavior of the demonstrators. Some protesters set fireworks off on the grounds of the National War Memorial late Friday. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas last weekend and compared vaccine mandates to fascism.

A recent opinion poll by Abacus Data suggested 68 per cent of Canadians felt they had "very little in common" with the protesters, while 32 per cent said they "had a lot in common" with the truckers. Nearly 83 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated.

In Ottawa, locals have complained of the ceaseless sound of air horns and of being harassed, insulted or blocked by the protesters.

The truckers and their supporters have dug in, however, saying the protests will continue until the Covid-related restrictions are lifted.

One demonstrator who drove for hours to join the protest in Ottawa, Kimberly Ball, told AFP that the protest was "about our freedom".

"A couple of people we know, friends, lost their jobs because of these mandates," she said, adding that she had concerns about the safety and effectiveness of Covid vaccines.