Ottawa police issued a leaflet on Wednesday (February 16) warning truckers who are still paralyzing downtown Ottawa that they risk "
being arrested
" if they continue their protest against sanitary measures, which has been going on for 20 days.
Read also“Freedom convoy”: the demonstrators failed to reproduce the Canadian model
"
You must leave now.
Anyone blocking traffic lanes, or helping others to do so, is committing a criminal offense or may be arrested
,” reads the document that police distributed to protesters.
"
We're not going to use force
," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
"
We have now given more tools to the police, to the local police...
", he added, believing that it was "
time for this to end
".
Hundreds of trucks are still parked in the streets of the city center of the federal capital.
Jan Grouin, 42, a trucker present since the beginning of the movement, regrets that Justin Trudeau does not come and talk to them.
To be dislodged this week “
would be a surprise
”, he says.
The resignation of the Ottawa Police Chief
Still, the city's new police chief sounded confident on Tuesday.
“
I am convinced that we have reached the turning point
,” said Steve Bell.
"
With the new resources, the tools that the provincial government and the federal government have put in place, I believe we have the capabilities to end this occupation safely
," he added.
On the same day, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly, who was heavily criticized for his handling of the crisis, resigned.
In Emerson, Manitoba, the last blockage of a border axis in place, the police estimated on Wednesday that the passage to the United States would be reopened in “
a few hours
”.
Faced with this national crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday invoked the use of the Emergencies Act, a provision that allows for the use of "
extraordinary measures
".
It is only the second time that this provision has been used in peacetime, the last time dating back to the crisis of 1970 when Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the father of the current Prime Minister, was in power.
Minimized at the start by the authorities, the Canadian protest movement which began at the end of January started from truckers protesting against the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States.
But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.