For more than a week, the capital of Canada has been taken by dozens of trucks and protesters that block the main avenues of the center in protest by the Restrictions of the COVID-19. The Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, had to declare on Sunday the "State of Emergency" before an "out of control" situation, hoping that this statement, which reflects a situation of danger, serves to achieve "Support from others Jurisdictions, "according to Watson himself affirmed. What happened in the last days and why do the truckers protest?
It all began on January 29, when truckers began to mobilize against the decision to force them to vaccinate from Covid-19 to cross the border with the United States. This measure, with which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intended to keep positives under control on displacement, entered into force on January 15.
The truckers argue that the restriction - which will prevent the country from entering all those who are not vaccinated or will force them to make a quarantine each time they cross the border - will lead many to lose employment. However, according to the Trucker Alliance of Canada (CTA, for its acronym in English), between 85% and 90% of the 120,000 truck drivers operating on cross-border routes, are vaccinated.
The truckers, who call themselves the "convoy of freedom", were those who called the mobilization, but they were added a multitude of protesters that protested against the sanitary restrictions, after two years of pandemic, and against the Government of Trudeau.
More than 250 trucks have been parked in the center of Ottawa for more than a week. Its owners have raised a 'camp' in front of the Parliament, with wooden structures, inflatable castles, portable urinals, generators and even ovens of pizza.
According to the police, the convoy has attracted sympathizers of the extreme right. The reporters present in the demonstrations say they have seen Nazi swastics and Confederate flags between the ottawa crowd
The mayor of Ottawa recognized on Sunday that protesters "are many more than our police", and announced that it was necessary to "recover the city". According to the police, there are no sufficient means to dislodge the trucks, to which some protesters are still supplying, particularly with fuel, something that the police are already pursuing with fines to anyone who provides helps the truckers.
More than 400 fines have been made for the incessant noise of the speakers and the use of fireworks and the police ensures to be investigating up to a hundred criminal offenses, including hatred crimes, aggressions against citizens who carry a mask, as well as Robberies and damage to public property. According to local media, a local telephone to report hate crimes received more than 200 calls.
According to a survey of Abacus dates from February 3, 68% of Canadians feel that they have "very little in common" with Ottawa's protesters and 32% have "much in common". By ideology, those who feel most identified with the protest are the voters of the popular party, extreme right, which defends postures contrary to migration and is 'refuge' of antivacunas or defenders of the right to arms. This formation, founded in 2018 by a former deputy of the Conservative Party -Maxime Bernier, nicknamed 'Mad Max' in Canada - had since been a marginal party, although in the last elections its supports increased significantly.
Several local newspapers relate these days how Ottawa's neighbors are suffering a great emotional and psychological cost for protests in which protesters took over public space with threatening attitudes. "Uncertainty and lack of control only cause enormous amounts of stress, and that adds to chronic stressors with which people have been dealing at the pandemic," said Ivy Bourgeault, professor at School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies From the University of Ottawa, in 'The Globe and Mail' .-
This newspaper tells as a neighbor of Ottawa, Ellie Charters, has launched an initiative so that volunteers accompany residents who feel frightened to walk alone in the capital. "Yes, it's a pity that the Klakons bothered them and all this disorder, but the rest of the country is suffering," said one of the spokesmen for the convoy of freedom, Tom Quiggin.
Date Of Update: 07 February 2022, 18:06
