The protest blockades are gone, but Canada’s PM indicates controversial law stays in effect for now
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced that the recently invoked wide-ranging Emergencies Act, allowing the government to freeze bank accounts of Freedom Convoy protesters and their supporters, will remain in effect, even as “Ottawa seems to be moving forward with its issues..”
Trudeau added that the Act was “It is not something you should take lightly,” insisting it would only be applied in a “Temporary, temporary, and proportional” manner. “We don’t want to keep it in place a single day longer than necessary,” he said.
But even as he acknowledged that the border blockades formed by members of the trucker convoy had been dispersed, the PM noted that “This state of emergency does not end.” He declined to provide an estimate when the ‘emergency’ might be concluded, instead citing unspecified “There are real worries about the future.”
Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell declared an end to the truckers’ protest on Saturday after promising to trace anyone who had participated in or supported the demonstration and punish them with “Financial sanctions and criminal prosecutions.”
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Aided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the capital’s cops engaged in a brutal crackdown against the weeks-long protest over the weekend, using batons and projectiles as well as riding horses directly into crowds. At least 76 vehicles and more than 200 demonstrators were taken into custody. Ottawa’s mayor said these vehicles can be sold off under the Emergencies Act. According to Marco Mendicino, the Act has already frozen dozens of accounts totalling more than $3.2 million.
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