David Ljunggren, Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters), – Canadian police have announced that they will remove hundreds of Ottawa-based truck drivers on Friday. They had been protesting for more than three weeks the restrictions against the pandemic which has decimated the capital. This has prompted Justin Trudeau to become the Prime Minister and take over emergency powers.

Together with thousands of protestors and around 400 vehicles, the drivers turned Parliament’s streets into a party zone on Jan. 28. This has been Trudeau’s worst crisis since 2015.

A handful of police officers made arrests this Thursday, including Chris Barber. Barber was one of the major fundraisers and organizers. Barber refused to resist police when they told him that he would be being held for mischief.

We are absolutely committed to ending this illegal demonstration. Steve Bell, interim chief of police, stated that he has the plan and the resources. To stop anyone entering downtown without valid reasons, police will establish a perimeter of 100 checkpoints.

“This weekend is going to be different than previous weekends,” he said. This week, Peter Sloly the previous chief resigned amid anger from residents about police inaction.

Truckers protested against cross-border vaccination mandates. This was also a US measure. It spread slowly across Canada, and eventually became an antigovernment movement. Six days of protests blocked many land crossings with America, including Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge. Both economies were hurt.

Trudeau called the blocking of the streets a menace to democracy and invoked emergency measures Monday to give his government temporarily powers to stop the unrest. According to government officials, they worry about violent extremists.

Protesters on Parliament Hill stated that they will not be leaving until their demands are met.

Chris Dacey said on Thursday, “End the mandates and give us our rights. This is over.” “We all will go home to our families.”

Trudeau felt under immense pressure from the U.S. President Joe Biden to swiftly act on border blocking. He was asked to utilize federal power.

Trudeau said that the illegal occupations and blockades must stop. Parliament began debate on the Emergencies Act on Thursday. It needs to pass within seven days after an announcement.

Official opposition Conservative Party insists that there wasn’t need for the Emergencies Act. It is especially important since all border blocking has been lifted. Jeremy Patzer (Conservative Parliamentarian) told the House of Commons Thursday that peaceful protestors around the world felt alarmed when Trudeau came down with a sledgehammer.

He added, “It’s absolutely shameful.”