Big rigs, passenger vehicles snarl downtown Ottawa as trucker convoy parks by Parliament
Global News
Traffic was snarled by big rigs lining Wellington Street, in the shadow of the Parliament Buildings, while passenger vehicles circled honking their horns.
Thousands descended on Parliament Hill Saturday as part of the so-called “freedom convoy” to air grievances against COVID-19 public health measures, vaccine mandates and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Traffic was snarled by big rigs lining Wellington Street, in the shadow of the Parliament Buildings, while passenger vehicles circled honking horns.
True to the protests movement’s origins, a common objective was hard to discern. Many protesters held “F–k Trudeau” flags, while others held signs opposing vaccine mandates and COVID-19 health measures.
Protesters on foot stretched from Sussex Drive through to the area outside the parliamentary buildings.
The convoy initially kicked off with a focus on opposing vaccine mandates — especially the one aimed at cross-border truckers.
The government announced in November 2021 that all Canadian truckers seeking to cross the border from the United States would need to be vaccinated in order to avoid a 14-day quarantine. That mandate went into effect on Jan. 15.
The United States instituted its own ban on unvaccinated truck drivers a week after Canada implemented its policy.
In the days since the trucks hit the roads, however, the stated goal of the movement has become muddied.
