Ottawa: police use pepper spray and stun grenades to clear trucker protest

Canadian police on Saturday deployed pepper spray and stun grenades in a continuing effort to break up the blockade of trucks and demonstrators that has occupied downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks in a protest against pandemic protocols.

Some accounts indicated that authorities escalated crowd control efforts, with reports that police with rifles approached protesters and smashed truck windows.

The New York Times reported that police in riot gear pushed the crowd back, upsetting a table displaying spurious claims about vaccines.

Police also employed loudspeakers to warn protesters to disperse or face arrest.

The loud bangs of stun grenades were audible and onlookers witnessed people being pepper-sprayed. Police claimed demonstrators were throwing smoke canisters.

Authorities also erected barricades. The number of protesters had dropped significantly.

Many of the main protest organizers were arrested. Some reportedly left. Police, who were accused of using heavy-handed tactics, especially in deploying Mounties on horseback, claimed there were no serious injuries.

The demonstrators first gathered in protest of cross-border Covid-19 vaccine requirements for truck drivers. Their blockade transformed into a broader protest against the government and prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau used emergency powers to end the protests. Lawmakers were poised to debate the temporary powers on Friday but the House of Commons suspended its session, citing police activity.

A truck driver from Manitoba, who gave his name only as Gord, said he could no longer work because of cross-border vaccine requirements.

Protests emulating the Ottawa blockade have cropped up elsewhere, including between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. Authorities arrested a group of people tied to a blockade in Alberta, in Canada, who had a cache of weapons, the Times said.

Some self-described leaders of the Ottawa protests apparently have experience in rightwing organizing. At some trucker protests in Canada, witnesses have spotted Trump, QAnon or Confederate flags.