Canadian trucker protest: Border blockade in Alberta new challenge: LIVE UPDATES
Thousands of protesters opposed to Ottawa mandating COVID-19 vaccines for truckers have descended on the capital over the weekend, and some say they don’t plan on leaving until their voices are heard.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday backtracked on a claim made by Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly that the Canadian military might have to be called in to clear the lingering protesters in the capital.
Deploying the Canadian Armed Forces against their own citizens is "not in the cards right now," Trudeau said during a virtual press briefing, according to The Washington Post.
“One has to be very, very cautious before deploying military in situations engaging Canadians,” the prime minister said. “It is not something that anyone should enter in lightly. But as of now, there have been no requests, and that is not in the cards right now.”
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said in a briefing to city councilors Wednesday that the ongoing demonstrations in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada are beyond the ability of law enforcement to stymie.
"This is a national issue, not an Ottawa issue," Sloly said. "I am increasingly concerned there is no policing solution to this."
Sloly said he and his commanders are “looking at every single option, including military aid to civil power.”
Asked during a later briefing to clarify what he meant by his comments, Sloly reiterated that requesting military aid was not off the table.
More truckers are reportedly on their way to Ottawa as of Thursday, hoping to swell the ranks of the protesters who remain on the streets there to protest against federal and provincial vaccine mandates.
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The Freedom Convoy 2022 retained legal counsel from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based nonprofit law firm that has also represented other clients resisting provincial and federal COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
"The Justice Centre today confirms it is representing the Freedom Convoy 2022 in Ottawa and has a team of lawyers on the ground providing legal assistance and advice," the Justice Centre announced Thursday in a statement provided to Fox News.
The announcement comes a day after the Ottawa police chief suggested the possibility that the Canadian Armed Forces might have to provide aid to clear out the protesters from the capital. On Wednesday night, GoFundMe froze the convoy's fundraising page.
Reports indicate that more truckers are on their way to Ottawa to join the lingering protesters this weekend.
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said police likely can't end the anti-mandate protests that have taken over Canada's capital since this weekend.
“We are now aware of a significant element from the United States that have been involved in the funding, the organizing and the demonstrating. They have converged on our city and there are plans for more to come,” Sloly said.
“There is likely no policing solution to this,” Sloly said.
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OTTAWA, Ontario – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other liberal Canadian leaders have slammed the trucking "Freedom Convoy" as spreading "hateful rhetoric" and expressing "violence toward fellow citizens." But protesters on the ground say that’s not the case at all.
"I have not seen one negative flag here. No Nazi flags or anything like that," one woman protesting in Ottawa, who has been in the capital since Friday, told Fox News Digital.
The last truck blocking the southbound lane moves after a breakthrough resolved the impasse where anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators blocked the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alberta, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.
Canadian officials are dealing with another trucker protest hundreds of miles west from Ottawa that involves about 100 trucks parked at the border crossing in Alberta—also protesting the country’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Toronto Star reported that the protest near Coutts, Alta.—near the Montana border—is entering its sixth day. There has been tensions with law enforcement because these trucks have blocked traffic.
The paper said there was some kind of truce reached on Wednesday and a few lanes of traffic were opened up.
The protest in Ottawa has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said there have been instances of racism.
Thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill. Organizers have said it is a peaceful protest. -Edmund DeMarche
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