Police in Canada say they have arrested at least 70 people and made progress in clearing out lorry drivers who have paralysed the capital of Ottawa for three weeks in a protest against the country’s Covid-19 restrictions.
Hundreds of police descended into the protest zone in the morning and led demonstrators away in handcuffs through Ottawa’s newly snow-covered streets as holdouts blared their horns in defiance.
Tow truck operators arrived under police escort and got to work removing the lorries, campers and other vehicles parked bumper to bumper and shoulder to shoulder near Parliament.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said around midday: “There are indications we are now starting to see progress.”
Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell says law enforcement agents are continuing to try to take control of the streets and will work around the clock until that happens.
Some protesters surrendered and were taken into custody, police said. Some were seen being led away in handcuffs. One person being led away was carrying a sign that read “Mandate Freedom.”
Other protesters sounded a defiant tone and said they had no intention of abandoning the lengthy protest.
“I'm not leaving. None of us are leaving,” said Shawn Paterson, a protest supporter from British Columbia who has been at the demonstrations since they began.
“The corrupt government has taken over our freakin' lives and we're not going to be bullied,” he told The National.
Police made their first move to end the occupation when they arrested two protest leaders late on Thursday night. They are due in court on Friday to face charges of mischief and obstructing police.
Police arrested organisers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber around Parliament Hill, but officers were not moving in force on the demonstrators. Police took Ms Lich into custody on Thursday.
Police continued negotiating with the protesters and trying to persuade them to go home, Mr Bell said. “We want this demonstration to end peacefully,” he said. “If they do not peacefully leave, we have plans.”
Many of the drivers in the self-styled Freedom Convoy appeared unmoved by days of police and government warnings that they were risking arrest and could see their vehicles seized and bank accounts frozen.
“I’m prepared to sit … and watch them hit me with pepper spray,” said one of their leaders, Pat King. As for the lorries parked bumper-to-bumper, he said: “There’s no tow trucks in Canada that will touch them.”
Mr King later told drivers to lock their doors.
Lorry drivers outside of Parliament honked their horns in defiance of a court injunction against honking, issued for the benefit of neighbourhood residents.
Ottawa represented the movement’s last stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the US, inflicted economic damage on both countries and created a political crisis for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The protests have shaken Canada’s reputation for civility and rule-following. They have inspired similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
“It’s high time that these illegal and dangerous activities stop,” Mr Trudeau declared in Parliament, not far from where the more than 300 lorries were parked.
“They are a threat to our economy and our relationship with trading partners,” he said. “They are a threat to public safety.”
The protests by demonstrators in lorries, tractors and motor homes initially focused on Canada’s vaccine requirement for lorry drivers entering the country but soon morphed into a broader attack on Covid-19 precautions and Mr Trudeau’s government.
The biggest, most damaging of the blockades at the border took place at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit. Before authorities arrested dozens of protesters last weekend and lifted the siege, it disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production.
The final blockade, in Manitoba, ended peacefully on Wednesday.
The movement has drawn support from right-wing extremists and veterans. Some of them are armed, which is one reason authorities have hesitated to move against them.
