On the same day that provincial and state authorities called for an end to the cross-border vaccine requirement that triggered the trucker-led campaign, Canadian police issued an ultimatum to protesters who have been blocking Ottawa streets for 20 days to leave the capital.
Meanwhile, officials stated that the latest of numerous recent protests at border crossings between Canada and the United States has come to a peaceful conclusion.
In a letter issued to trucks outside parliament, Ottawa police stated, “You must leave the area now.”
Anyone caught obstructing streets or supporting others in doing so would face prosecution, fines, and truck seizures, according to the statement.
Police also cautioned that anyone charged or convicted of taking part in the illegal demonstration could face a travel ban to the United States in addition to criminal consequences.
Hundreds of trucks continued to clog roadways in the legislative precinct as the notices were being handed out, blowing horns despite a court order against the deafening noises being extended Wednesday by an area homeowner sick up with the interruptions.
“We’re still a lot of trucks holding the line,” trucker David Shaw, 65, told AFP. If arrested, he added: “I’ll keep coming back.”
Jan Grouin, 42, a fellow demonstrator, criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to declare a state of emergency earlier this week, calling it “a little excessive maybe to assume that we are terrorists.”
Ottawa interim police Chief Steve Bell said in a statement that “a deliberate and well-resourced plan” to “take back the entirety of the downtown core and every occupied location” would be carried out in the coming days.
