image source, Getty Images
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Ottawa police forcibly evicted much of the truckers and other anti-vaccine protesters who had blocked the center of the Canadian capital for more than three weeks.
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The agents used pepper spray, grenades stunners and batons.
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The images, which have gone around the world, show violent struggles between hundreds of protesters and agents, some on horseback.
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Those who resisted were thrown to the ground and handcuffed from behind.
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image source, Getty Images
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Arrests and seized trucks
More than 170 people have been arrested and 38 vehicles seized after two days of offensives.
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The police assured this Sunday that the operation in Ottawa is still ongoing and avoided predicting when it will end.
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Acting Police Chief Steve Bell explained that some protesters moved from Parliament Hill – the core of the protest – to nearby neighborhoods and assured that these areas will also be cleared.
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Is about one of the largest police operations in Canadian history.
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Police confirmed on Twitter that they used tear gas on some protesters “in an effort to stop aggressive behavior, and for the safety of officers.”
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image source, Getty Images
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Some used snow to relieve itchy eyes from pepper spray
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The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began Friday morning when hundreds of police officers, some with riot batons, descended on the protesters’ encampment in downtown Ottawa.
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Several of those present refused to leave. They formed a line in front of the approaching agents and United in arms they sang the national anthem“O Canada”.
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The police reported that several of those arrested were wearing bulletproof vestsfirecrackers and smoke grenades.
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He accused some of them of throwing gas canisters at officers.
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image source, Getty Images
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Many protesters also wore protective masks.
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Police also criticized protesters for bringing children to an illegal protest, which in Canada can carry anywhere from a fine to five years in jail.
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The investigation into the protests will continue for the next few months, police said.
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The agents acted under the Emergencies Law, activated on Monday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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This law gave the Government extraordinary powers such as seizing trucks and prosecuting people who traveled to the capital to join the blockade, as well as impose fines and withdraw driver’s licenses.
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The snowball effect
The protest began in January, when a convoy headed to Ottawa to oppose the mandatory vaccination mandate affecting truckers crossing the US-Canadian border.
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Over time it grew into a broader movement of opposition to the restrictions due to the pandemic and the government of Justin Trudeauwith concentrations of support throughout the country.
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image source, Getty Images
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Anti-vaccine protests became against all covid restrictions
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Authorities cleared the bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and the US state of Michigan last weekend.
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Trucker protests at border crossings in Coutts, Alberta, Surrey, British Columbia and Emerson also dispersed this week.
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Only the blockade of Ottawa remained, which for more than three weeks had paralyzed much of the city center.
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