Trudeau invokes emergency powers to stop COVID-19 protests at Canadian border

By Rob Gillies and

Ted

Associated Press

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday invoked emergency powers to quell border protests by truckers and other supporters who are upset about restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

"These blockades are illegal and if they continue to participate in them, the time to go home is now," Trudeau said.

By invoking Canada's emergency declaration law, which gives the prime minister sweeping powers to restore order,

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at an event in Ottawa, Canada, on January 26, 2022. Adrian Wyld / AP

Instead, his government plans to

"Consider yourselves warned, send your vehicles home," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

[Bridge between US and Canada reopens after 7 days of protests by truckers over health regulations]

Freeland, who is also the finance minister, said the government will also use its anti-money laundering regulations to target websites that are being used to finance the blockades.

Anti-vaccine truckers gather in Buffalo, New York, to support their colleagues from Canada

Feb. 13, 202200:18

Trudeau did not specify when he would start taking these emergency measures, but assured that they would be

as well as reasonable and proportional to the threat they are combating."

For the past two weeks, thousands of protesters have blocked the streets of Ottawa, the capital, with trucks and cars and besieged the parliament building to protest COVID-19 vaccination mandates, which they say are hurting their ability to work and support their families.

The protesters, who call themselves the

, disrupted trade between Canada and the United States by blocking the Windsor Bridge, which connects Ontario to Detroit, Michigan, for several days.

Canadian authorities managed to reopen this border bridge on Sunday and arrested several protesters.

But the shutdown was enough to paralyze production at car factories on both sides of the border for several days.

"This is the biggest and most serious challenge Trudeau has faced so far,"

Professor Wesley Wark of the University of Ottawa, a national security expert, told The Associated Press.

While some demand "freedom", Justin Trudeau describes the protests in Canada as "illegal"

Feb. 12, 202201:06

[“Zero Tolerance”: A Dozen Protesters Arrested While Blocking Canada-US Bridge Cleared]

The emergency declaration would also allow the Canadian government to make greater use of the RCMP, the federal law enforcement agency.

However, many of the protesters have assured that they do not plan to stop protesting.

"There are no threats that can scare us. We will stand firm," Tamara Lich, who is participating in the protests, told the quoted media outlet.