A calm before the storm

Two demonstrators (pictured above) embraced outside the Parliament building in Ottawa, Canada, on Feb. 17 as police massed in the Canadian capital. The next day authorities began arresting Canadians taking part in the weeks-long protest led by Canadian truckers against COVID rules and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The move against the truck protest was one of the biggest police enforcement actions in Canada’s history. Authorities arrested at least 170 people on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19 and towed nearly two dozen vehicles. They were acting under the Emergencies Act of 1988. The Canadian government invoked the law for the first time in order to deal with trucker protests that had blocked bridges and roads and disrupted the day-to-day lives of people in Ottawa. Truckers began leaving in large numbers on Feb. 19 as the protest wound down. With the protest disbursed, the Canadian Parliament voted on Feb. 21 to extend emergency powers in case the trucker protest restarts.