"You Have To Stop": Canada Police Move In To Remove Anti-Vax Protesters

Canada freedom convoy protests: With barricades going up and a heavy police presence forming in the area where hundreds of big rigs remained parked.

Canadian police massed in the capital Thursday, readying to clear a trucker-led protest that has choked Ottawa's streets for three weeks and provoked the government to call on rarely used emergency powers.

With barricades going up and a heavy police presence forming in the area where hundreds of big rigs remained parked, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Parliament nearby defending his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act for only the second time ever in peacetime.

"Illegal blockades and occupations are not peaceful protests," Trudeau told the House of Commons, adding: "They have to stop."

In response to critics, he said the act was not being used to call in the military against the protesters, and denied restricting freedom of expression.