Tension is running high among the residents of Ottawa when police have apparently failed to cool down the trucker-led anti-vaccine mandate protest even after 15 days of their wildcat agitation. Ottawa is under a state of emergency after protestors blockaded the city centre with trucks and cars also blaring horns forcing the businesses to close temporarily. Media reports said police have seized thousands of litres of fuel in recent days. But they are shaky to launch any operation as around 25 per cent of the vehicles contain children who could be at risk. Many Ottawa citizens said the situation went beyond control when the “Freedom Convoy” began, as truckers started protesting against a rule that requires them to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to cross the US-Canada border. In generally, they are showing anger at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. What’s very worrying for Canada government is that the Ambassador Bridge – Canada’s busiest border crossing which is some 756km away from Ottawa — was blocked by the truckers on Monday night. The bridge runs between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of Michigan, and more than 40,000 people and $323m worth of goods cross it daily.
In reality, the truckers are now controlling the communications and economy between Canada and USA. Not only that, the protesters also blocked traffic overnight Monday at the Coutts access point between Alberta and Montana, apart from threatening more supply chain disruptions. It is clear that situation is critical. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, emerging Monday from a weeklong isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus, said nearly 90% of Canada’s truckers are fully vaccinated and eligible to cross the border. The demonstrators represent a “small, fringe minority,” Trudeau said, and added: “The government does not expect the vaccine mandate to significantly affect supply chains…..Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens’ daily lives. It has to stop”. Meanwhile, a group of anti-vaccination demonstrators have blocked roads and targeted businesses in the Australian capital of Canberra on Tuesday, in an echo of similar protests in Canada. Many fears, such demonstrations could also spread in different states of USA. Earlier, we witnessed such anti-vaccination demonstrations in different Europen countries. What’s interesting is that USA, Canada and Australia – all are most vaccinated countries in the world. Their citizens are well protected than the countries of the third world.
We are not saying that the non-vaccinated minority demonstrators are doing the right thing in Ottawa. But one thing that attracts us – Canadian government is so understanding and so considerable to their citizens that despite severe disruption in economic activities for over two weeks, it still did not take any hard role against the protesters. It is called tolerance to public demand. It’s the beauty of democracy.
