The leader of the Canadian province of Ontario, Premier Doug Ford, declared a state of emergency Friday over truckers protesting vaccine mandates.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of truckers have snarled the streets around the parliament building in the national capital, Ottawa, and more recently blocked the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the U.S.
Ford said he would convene the provincial cabinet on Saturday to make “crystal clear” the truckers are breaking the law by blocking critical infrastructure.
He said punishments for continuing to break the law could include fines and jail time.
“We are now two weeks into the siege of Ottawa,” Ford said. “It’s an illegal occupation. It’s no longer a protest.”
He also said he would also seek to break up the protests at the bridge, over which a large percentage of U.S-Canada trade passes.
One protester told Fox News he’d been at the Ottawa protest the entire time and was there with his wife and kids.
He said he didn’t want his kids to be forced to wear a mask or get vaccinated.
“The pressure we have to get vaccinated, there’s something about it that just don’t work,” he said. “End all the mandates, and it’s going to be all right.”
Since the protests began, several Canadian provinces have dropped or signaled they will soon drop mask and vaccine mandates.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the truckers a “fringe” group.
On Thursday, Ford asked a court to freeze online fundraising for the protesters via a site called GiveSendGo.
In a tweet, the American company said, “Know this! Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo. All funds for EVERY campaign on GiveSendGo flow directly to the recipients of those campaigns, not least of which is The Freedom Convoy campaign.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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