By David K. Li -
NBC News
The Prime Minister of the Canadian province of Ontario, Doug Ford, declared a state of emergency on Friday and said that he will use all the resources of his government to end the blockade that truckers have been carrying out for two weeks to protest the measures of protection against COVID-19.
Ford denounced that the truckers' actions "no longer constitute a protest" but rather "an illegal occupation" and "a siege" of the country's capital, Ottawa, and that they have also once again cut off the main border bridge with the United States, where more and more car factories are cutting production due to lack of components.
A truck at the protests in Ottawa. DAVE CHAN / AFP via Getty Images
Ford asked the protesters to go home and threatened heavy fines, but avoided threatening immediate police action to clear the streets: "I want to make it very clear that I do not, I repeat, do not lead the police," he said.
"We make the laws. The police enforce the laws. But again, we can't have people occupying cities, holding them hostage, holding millions and millions of people hostage and tens and tens and tens of thousands of people ( that) they can't go to their jobs.
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The mayor of Ottawa already declared a state of emergency in the city on Sunday due to the protest of the truckers, who consider themselves "a convoy of freedom" for blocking the streets of the city in protest of the vaccination mandate imposed by the authorities. Canadians to protect the population from COVID-19.
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Ford said he respects truckers' right to protest, "but like all rights, they are not without reasonable limits."
"There is a big difference between a demonstration in which people demonstrate and go home and people (who) endanger their lives, that of their family and that of their community," said the attorney general. of Ontario, Sylvia Jones.
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Traffic on the border bridges has been blocked or severely restricted for five days, which has caused serious economic consequences south of the border, said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
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"In Michigan, our economic momentum is at risk because commercial traffic is at a standstill on the Ambassador and Blue Water bridges," he said Friday, "I continue to take steps to ensure Michigan workers and families are supported."
The protest has also sparked backlash in Ottawa and across Canada over alleged harassment of citizens, as well as the presence of Confederate and Nazi swastika flags.
The majority of Canadians do not support the truckers' actions, according to an Ipsos poll.
