Authorities in Ottawa, Canada, where a massive Freedom Convoy continues to take place, announced on Monday that anyone who brings "material supports" such as gas to demonstrators at Parliament Hill may be arrested. The agency took to social media to make the announcement.
"IMPORTANT: Anyone attempting to bring material supports (gas, etc.) to the demonstrators could be subject to arrest," the announcement on Twitter read. "Enforcement is underway."
On Sunday, Ottawa Police reported on Twitter that more than 450 tickets have been issued since Saturday morning. The agency shared that they worked to "reduce the impacts of demonstrators in the downtown core, respond to calls for service, and improve neighborhood safety."
The Western Journal reported that there were an estimated 500 vehicles remaining in Ottawa for the Freedom Convoy, a gathering that began in British Columbia to protest COVID vaccine mandates. One of the protest organizers, Tamara Lich, told reporters last week, "Let me assure the people of Ottawa that we have no intent to stay one day longer than necessary. Our departure will be based on the prime minister doing what is right: Ending all mandates and restrictions on our freedoms."
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to budge. On Monday, he made his first public appearance since testing positive for COVID, telling protesters, "Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy, and our fellow citizens' daily lives. It has to stop," CNN reported.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who on Sunday declared a state of emergency, calling the protests "completely out of control, because the individuals with the protest are calling the shots." He added, "The demonstrators...remain highly organized, well-funded, extremely committed to resisting all attempts to end the demonstrations safely. This remains, as it was from the beginning, an increasingly volatile and increasingly dangerous demonstration."
Such "dangerous demonstration" is just in fact peaceful protesting. Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson had interviewed a woman who traveled all the way from Toronto to share 1,550 Polish sausages to the truckers, CBN News reported. The woman explained that she was called to action because she too had fought for freedom from a tyrannical government.
"We stand behind them," the woman, who said she came from a communist country and moved to Canada to escape oppression, explained. "We wanted to live in a free country," she lamented, but claimed that since the COVID pandemic, they have been forced to stay indoors and "[live] like prisoners." The woman pledged to come to the Freedom Convoy and share food "until it ends."
Watson's comment about the Convoy being "well-funded" interestingly comes especially after he admitted to asking GoFundMe, and other fundraising platforms, to withhold donations given to the truckers who were merely protesting for their own freedom against vaccine mandates.
Canada's Freedom Convoy against COVID tyranny is an example for anti-vaccine and anti-mask mandate Americans, such as Tucker Carlson, who envied the boldness of Canadians to rise up against its government and wondered when such uprising would occur in the U.S., Fox News reported.
Former President Donald Trump also threw his weight behind the truckers, saying in a statement, "The Freedom Convoy is peacefully protesting the harsh policies of far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau, who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates," Insider reported.
