Date: 2025-01-15 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021674
PROTESTS
CANADIAN TRUCKER PROTEST
Started in Ottawa to protest vaccination requirements and public health measures ... but became much more
CANADIAN TRUCKER PROTEST
Started in Ottawa to protest vaccination requirements and public health measures ... but became much more
Data: FactSet; Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios
Original article:
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Original article:
🍁 All eyes on convoy in Canada
Just as American auto manufacturers showed signs of momentum in beating back supply chain snarls, Canadian anti-vaccine protestors are blocking a key connection to Detroit, Matt writes.
Driving the news: The convoy of Canadian truckers that shut down Ottawa recently to protest vaccination requirements and public health measures closed a key bridge connecting Canada to the U.S. for a fourth day today.
Why it matters: The Ambassador Bridge — which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit — carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, according to the AP.
Context: The chaos along the typically placid border comes just as the American auto industry — which depends on suppliers and producers in both countries — starts to shake-off supply chain-related woes.
- Ford and Toyota have already halted some production.
- After crashing at the end of 2021, the pace of car sales jumped in January, rising to an annualized pace of more than 15.5 million.
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Original article: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/10/1079842220/ottawa-trucker-convoy-protest
A man carries a Confederate flag during the protests in Ottawa in January. Along with Canadian flags, signs and flags with extremist views have been seen at the demonstrations. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images
NELL CLARK
February 10, 2022 11:40 AM ET
Massive protests by truckers opposing pandemic precautions continue to ensnare traffic in Canada. Authorities are increasingly wary of the extremist views on display during the demonstrations, which some have dubbed the 'Freedom Convoy.'
The drivers have been blocking major metropolitan areas in Ottawa, Ontario, for over a week and are becoming increasingly raucous, calling for the lifting of health regulations as well as a regime change in the country. Protestors in tractor-trailers and other vehicles have been running their engines and honking their horns day and night in the densely populated area. There are also hundreds of protestors on foot.
Ottawa City Councilor Matthew Luloff told Morning Edition that hate symbols and acutely anti-Semitic writing have been seen at the rallies. Along with Canadian flags, some protestors have also been showing off U.S. Confederate flags and swastikas.
'Some of the most well-known radicals in this country have now descended upon the capital. Some of them are calling for violence. Some of them are threatening individual politicians,' said Luloff.
Some of the protestors have legitimate concerns, noted Luloff. But what's driving those using the protests to push hate?
In fact, extremist groups are at the core of the movement, Stephanie Carvin, a national security expert, tells Morning Edition. Carvin reports groups with conspiratorial beliefs, anti-government and bigoted views have been trying for years to organize a convoy, but vaccine mandates helped to finally give their plan enough momentum in Ottawa.
'In reality, I think what we're looking at is something like a spark that lit a powder keg within the wider Canadian population,' Carvin says.
Carvin notes fatigue for mitigation measures is at an all-time high as many places in Canada come out of a fourth round of major lockdowns for COVID-19 prevention, unlike many other countries — including the U.S. — which have not had consistent lockdowns.
Those fatigued with lockdown-induced economic and social struggles resonate with the trucker protest's messages against COVID-19 mandates, even though at its core, the movement's roots are firmly based in violent extremist ideologies, Carvin explains.
When NPR's Emma Jacob's visited the protests in Ottawa and interviewed demonstrators, a man who's part of the self-appointed security for the protests' areas pushed his way into the interview.
'It's a civil war between the government and its people,' he explained. He didn't give his name.
From a security perspective, Carvin reports authorities don't want to take responsibility for the protests. Law enforcement has been confiscating protesters' fuel and calling for additional police forces.
'There's a reluctance to even just hand out parking tickets. It is a baffling kind of collapse of authority,' says Carvin.
Even as Canada lifts coronavirus mandates in some areas, the protests may not end due to their anti-governmental nature.
If the protests spread across the United States, authorities worry they could further crumble supply chains and potentially disrupt the upcoming Super Bowl and State of the Union address.
This story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.
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- Canadian truckers block a key border crossing, as their protest morphs and drags on
- Ottawa declares a state of emergency over truckers' growing anti-government protests