Canada: Police push back protesters in Ottawa

Police in Canada's capital Ottawa on Saturday stepped up efforts to bring an end to three weeks of protests against the country's COVID-19 restrictions.

What is the latest?

Officers used pepper spray and stun grenades against demonstrators gathered in front of the Parliament building and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office.

Tense scenes unfolded outside the Parliament, with multiple protesters hurling gas canisters at officers. Several people were arrested. By late Saturday, police said they had nearly cleared the area in front of parliament.

A number of vehicles were towed away overnight into Saturday, while scores of trucks left the besieged city as the police cordon approached their position. 

"We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. We were slow and methodical, yet you were assaultive and aggressive with officers and the horses," police said in a statement to the truckers posted on Twitter.

The move to shut down the self-styled "freedom convoy" began Friday when hundreds of police, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone.

Around 170 people were arrested on Friday and Saturday, police said.

The polarizing protests ostensibly coalesced around pandemic restrictions and COVID vaccine requirements but have transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

On Monday, Trudeau invoked emergency powers to deal with the blockade.

What are police doing to stop the protests?

To carry out the operation, police set up 100 checkpoints to starve the protest community of food and fuel.

On Friday, hundreds of police descended on downtown in the frigid cold where snow had just fallen.

At least one driver had his window smashed and a few were pulled from vehicles and taken into custody. Others who resisted were thrown to the ground and arrested.

Three of the most prominent organizers were detained, including two Thursday and one Friday.

Police have said that it could take several days to remove the protesters.

Elsewhere in Canada on Saturday, police said the Pacific Highway border crossing was closed "due to increased protest activity in the area."

How have protesters reacted to their receding encampment?

Protesters have also used shovels to build chest-high snow embankments there, forming an icy barricade.

On Friday afternoon, a steady stream of vehicles departed from Ottawa's Parliament Hill.

Those protesters that remained linked arms and were energized in their encounters with police, but as dusk set in, the situation became more tense.

Kevin Homaund, a trucker from Montreal, told the AP news agency, "Freedom was never free," adding, "So what if they put the handcuffs on us and they put us in jail?''

Mark, a protester from Nova Scotia who would not give his last name, told Reuters news agency, "If they want to arrest me, I'll put my hands out, and they can twist-tie me up like everybody else here. We're going peaceful."

The protesters' umbrella group, which calls itself the "freedom convoy 2022," said, "We will continue to hold the line. We refuse to bow to abuses of power. The world is watching, Canada."

mm, ar/fb (AFP, AP, Reuters)