Canada PM: military response not in cards for Covid protests

OTTAWA, Ontario – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a military response to the ongoing Ottawa protest against Covid-19 measures is “not in the cards right now.”

Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said this week that all options are on the table, including calling in the military, to end the ongoing demonstration that was being called an “occupation” by some on the city council.

Thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions descended on the capital last weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill. Police estimate about 250 remain.

Trudeau said one must be “very, very cautious” about deploying troops on Canadian soil, adding there has been no such request to the federal government. He said any formal requests for assistance from the City of Ottawa or Ontario will be considered.

Organisers, including one who has espoused white supremacist views, had raised millions for the cross-country “freedom truck convoy” against vaccine mandates and other restrictions.

It has attracted support from former US President Donald Trump.

Ottawa´s mayor, meanwhile, is calling on several opposition Conservative lawmakers to apologize for praising the protesters and posing with them.

A photo posted by one of the lawmakers shows them some giving the thumbs-up – in front of one of the protest trucks, which have been barricading roads and honking horns in the city almost non-stop since Saturday.

Mayor Jim Watson responded on Twitter by calling the action an “absolute disgrace,” saying residents have been harassed by protesters and businesses have been forced to close.

“We have no intent to stay one day longer than necessary. Our departure will be based on the prime minister doing what is right, sending all mandates and restrictions on our freedoms,” Tamara Lich, one of the protest organizers, said in a statement according to AP.

“Our movement is growing in Canada and across the world because common people are tired of the mandates and restrictions in their lives that now seem to be doing more harm than good.”

The protesters are also calling for the removal of Trudeau´s government, though it is responsible for few of the measures, most of which were put in place by provincial governments. A protest is planned in the provincial capital of Toronto on Saturday. The Ontario legislature is in close proximity to many along University Avenue.