Several hundred Canadian truck drivers, who received support from Elon Musk, converged on Friday, January 28, on Ottawa, the Canadian capital, to participate in a demonstration against compulsory vaccination to cross the Canada-US border.
Leaving, among other places, from British Columbia (Pacific coast) to reach Ottawa (east), the “Freedom Convoy”, as it has been baptized by truckers, has continued to grow in recent days. The meeting point is now Parliament Hill, in the heart of the federal capital.
“We don’t want to be forced to get vaccinated, it should be a personal choice”, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), a protester, Louise, who came to support the truck drivers during a stop in the Vaudreuil region, on the road to Ottawa.
To the cheers of the crowd and the honking of the horn, the white-haired retiree said she feared “a total loss” of his freedom. She participates in the mobilization for “thank the truckers” and “send a message to the Trudeau government”.
“Whether people are vaccinated or not is not the issue. The problem is the obligation, for his part, expressed to AFP Tabitha, 26, holding a Canadian flag in her hands. According to her, Canada needs to regain its “commonalities and fundamental ideals”.
Elon Musk’s support
Since mid-January, Canada and the United States have required truck drivers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 when crossing the border between the United States and Canada, the longest in the world with nearly 9,000 km. A measure denounced by part of the truckers, supported since Thursday by the American billionaire Elon Musk, who tweeted on Thursday: “Canadian truckers deliver. »
“It’s a national event. It will be significant in size and polarizing in nature”, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said at a press conference on Friday, referring to a situation “complex and rapidly changing”. The latter said he was unable to quantify the number of trucks or participants, but expected “major problems” on the roads around the capital and asks the population to avoid travel.
Above all, the police fear excesses and violence, even if the organizers of the movement have made it known that they intend to demonstrate “peacefully”. Ottawa police have warned that some people may join the movement to “incite hatred and violence”.
Some traders have gone ahead and closed for the weekend, according to local media. Politicians in the Federal Capital Region could also be targeted, the police chief said.
90% of truck drivers already vaccinated
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, currently in isolation after being in contact, defended the vaccination obligation for truckers on Wednesday, recalling that 90% of them are already vaccinated.
“The comments made by some people associated with this convoy are unacceptable”, the prime minister said, while Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole said on Thursday he would meet with some of the truckers. Indeed, some members of the far-right have made threats on social media, calling for an imitation of the assault on the Capitol, in reference to the attack on the US Congress in January 2021.
Canadian police fear that the mobilization of truck drivers will continue beyond the weekend. Believing that the “vast majority” truck drivers are vaccinated in Canada, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a leading industry association, has “strongly disapproved” this demonstration.
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