Canadian authorities Friday turned up the legal and public pressure on protesters to lift their blockades in Ottawa and at the U.S. border, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning: “This unlawful activity has to end and it will end.”
Federal, provincial and local officials moved simultaneously on different fronts to try to break the so-called Freedom Convoy standoff, which began with truckers and others angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and has morphed into a broader outpouring of fury from the right toward Trudeau and his Liberal government, cheered on by conservatives in the U.S.
“We heard you. It’s time to go home now,” the prime minister said, warning that “everything is on the table” for ending the blockades.
Since Monday, drivers mostly in pickup trucks have bottled up the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, disrupting the auto industry on both sides of the border. Hundreds more truckers have paralyzed downtown Ottawa over the past two weeks.
