Protest
Sri Lanka deploys troops to capital after clash at protest
Authorities deployed armed troops in the capital Colombo on Monday hours after government supporters attacked protesters who have been camped outside the offices of the country's president and prime minster, as trade unions began a “Week of Protests” demanding the government change and its president to step down over the country’s worst economic crisis in memory.
The Indian Ocean island nation is on the brink of bankruptcy and has suspended payments on its foreign loans. Its economic woes have brought on a political crisis, with the government facing widespread protests and a no-confidence motion in Parliament.
Supporters of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa rallied inside his office earlier Monday, urging him to ignore the protesters' demand to step down and requesting he remain in office.
After the meeting, they went to the front of the office where protesters have been demonstrating for several days. Local television channel Sirasa showed pro-government supporters attacking protesters with clubs and iron bars, demolishing and later burning down their tents.
Also read: Diplomats concerned by state of emergency in Sri Lanka
After the attack, hundreds of armed soldiers were deployed in Colombo as the protesters made accusations on Sirasa TV that police did not interfere to prevent the attack, despite using tear gas and water cannons on protesters as recently as Friday.
Sirasa TV showed government lawmaker Sanath Nishantha was among the government supporters who attacked the protesters.
At the main hospital in the capital Colombo, 23 wounded people have been admitted and their condition is not critical, an official said on condition of anonymity as she is not authorized to speak to the media.
Also read: Sri Lanka leader declares emergency amid protests
The attack came as protesters marked their 31st day outside the president’s and prime minister's offices. They have been demanding that the president, his older brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other powerful Rajapaksa family members quit. Similar protests have spread to other locations, with people setting up camps opposite the prime minister’s residence and in other towns across the country.
So far, the Rajapaksa brothers have resisted calls to resign, though three Rajapaksas out of the five who were lawmakers stepped down from their Cabinet posts in April.
Meanwhile, trade unions on Monday called for protests throughout this week, trade union activist Saman Rathnapriya said, and more than 1,000 unions representing health, port, education, and other key service sectors have joined the “Week of Protests" movement.
He said during the week, the workers will stage demonstrations at their workplaces across the country. At the end of the week, they will launch a huge march up to Parliament, demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's removal and a new government.
For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, food and medicine, most of which come from abroad. Shortages of hard currency have also hindered imports of raw materials for manufacturing and worsened inflation, which surged to 18.7% in March.
People blocked main roads to demand gas and fuel. On Sunday, local television channel Hiru showed people in some areas fighting over fuel.
Sri Lanka was due to pay $7 billion of its foreign debt this year out of nearly $25 billion it must pay by 2026. Its total foreign debt is $51 billion.
Sri Lanka’s finance minister announced earlier this week that the country’s usable foreign reserves have plummeted below $50 million.
As oil prices soar during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Sri Lanka’s fuel stocks are running out. Authorities have announced countrywide power cuts will increase to about four a day because they can’t supply enough fuel to power generating stations.
Protesters have crowded the streets since March, maintaining that Rajapaksa and his family — who have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years — are responsible for the crisis.
On Friday, Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency, which empowers him to authorize detentions, property seizure and search of any premises. He can also change or suspend any law in the interests of public security and for the maintenance of essential supplies. Diplomats and rights groups have expressed concern over the move.
Sri Lanka has been holding talks with the International Monetary Fund to get an immediate funding facility as well as a long-term rescue plan but was told its progress would depend on negotiations on debt restructuring with creditors.
Any long-term plan would take at least six months to get.
Protests erupt in Michigan after police officer kills black man: U.S. media
The killing of a black man by a white police officer sparks a series of protests during the past three days in Grand Rapids, Michigan, local media reported.
The protests first erupted Wednesday after the Grand Rapids Police Department released several videos of an officer's encounter with Patrick Lyoya earlier this month, including two that show the fatal shot during a struggle after a traffic stop.
Lyoya, 26, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was killed in the front garden of a house in Grand Rapids after a brief chase followed by a struggle with the officer, who has not been named.
On Wednesday night, after videos of the incident were released, barriers went up at the Grand Rapids police station as hundreds marched downtown, chanting and demanding the department release the name of the officer who shot Lyoya, local TV channel WZZM reported.
READ: Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region
There have been multiple protests and rallies on behalf of Lyoya. On Tuesday evening, dozens of people called for justice as they rallied outside a City Commission meeting. Community members in Grand Rapids gathered downtown at Rosa Parks Circle on Friday. The group marched downtown to the Grand Rapids Police Department headquarters to make their voices heard.
The deaths of George Floyd and other black men at the hands of police have led to protests across America in recent years. There have been 255 police shootings across the United States this year, according to The Washington Post.
Sri Lanka president won’t resign despite growing protests
Sri Lanka’s president will not step down and instead will face the country’s political and economic crisis, a key government minister said Wednesday despite continuing large protests that are demanding his resignation.
Sri Lanka has endured months of shortages of fuel and other essentials, and the protests over the economic troubles have spread nationwide and expanded to criticism of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his politically powerful family.
Rajapaksa has resisted the calls for him to resign even after members of his own coalition made them this week, with governing party lawmakers saying an interim government should replace his and failing to do so would make them responsible for violence.
Rajapaksa “will not resign. We will face this. We have the strength to face this. We are not afraid,” Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando told Parliament on Wednesday.
Hours earlier, Rajapaksa revoked the state of emergency that he had declared last week after crowds of protesters demonstrated near his home in the capital, Colombo. The widely criticized emergency declaration gave him sweeping authority to act to protect public security, including suspending any laws, authorizing detentions and seizing property.
TV and social media images from Monday showed protesters storming into the offices and houses of governing party lawmakers and vandalizing some premises. Lawmakers urged the Parliament speaker to ensure their safety, and Fernando said they were prepared.
READ: Sri Lankan president revokes emergency amid growing protests
“We are ready to face them if anyone comes to attack us,” Fernando said in Parliament.
Protests continued Wednesday in many parts of the country demanding that Rajapaksa step down.
In Colombo, hundreds of doctors staged a protest march urging the government to solve shortages of medicine at state-run hospitals, while opposition lawmakers demonstrated in Parliament demanding that Rajapaksa resign. The protest caused a 10-minute suspension of Parliament.
Elsewhere in the country, students, lawyers and other groups protested against the government.
Rajapaksa earlier proposed a unity government be formed to handle the crisis, but the main opposition party rejected it. His Cabinet resigned Sunday night, and on Tuesday, nearly 40 governing coalition lawmakers said they would no longer vote according to coalition instructions, significantly weakening the government.
The president and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, continue to hold power, despite their politically powerful family being the focus of public ire. Five other family members are lawmakers, including Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and a nephew, Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
The family’s immense political clout grew in part from Mahinda Rajapaksa being credited when he was president earlier for ending Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war with the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
There are now fears the family’s control over key state functions has weakened independent institutions and left the government unable to address the crisis.
The government estimates the COVID-19 pandemic has cost Sri Lanka’s economy $14 billion in the last two years. Protesters also allege fiscal mismanagement — Sri Lanka has immense foreign debt after borrowing heavily for infrastructure and other projects that don’t earn money. Its foreign debt repayment obligations are around $7 billion for this year alone.
The debts and dwindling foreign reserves leave it unable to pay for imported goods.
For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, foods and medicines, most of which comes from abroad and is paid for in hard currency. The fuel shortage, along with lower hydropower capacity in dry weather, has caused rolling power cuts lasting hours each day.
Rajapaksa last month said his government was in talks with the International Monetary Fund and turned to China and India for loans while he appealed to people to limit the use of fuel and electricity.
Protest in India's capital on 2nd day of nationwide strike
Hundreds of workers marched with the red flags of the labor unions and chanted anti-government slogans in India’s capital on Tuesday as part of a two-day nationwide strike that began Monday.
The demonstration was held at Jantar Mantar, an area of New Delhi close to Parliament that is often used for protests. Protesters said economic policies under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government were hurting workers and the country's vast unorganized sector.
“Modi government has only one point, that it wants to hide its economic criminality under the garb of communalism and religion,” said Swadesh Dev Roye, a top official with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
Read: Indian LOC: Fund disbursement nearly doubles in one year
About a dozen labor unions that organized the strike want the government to provide universal social security coverage for workers in the vast unorganized sector, hike the minimum wage under a flagship employment guarantee program and scrap a new labor law that gives employers greater leeway in setting wages and working hours. The demonstrators included contract health workers who wore protective robes and demanded increased wages and regulation of their services.
Strikers are also demanding that the government halt plans of privatization of some public-sector banks and the sale of public assets.
Modi’s government says privatizing some state-owned banks would overhaul the banking industry and that asset sales would help raise money to spur economic growth.
The two-day strike was felt nationwide, and essential services related to banking, transportation, railways and electricity were impacted in several states.
Read:After 2 years, India resumes int'l flights
Elsewhere in the country, protests were held in eastern West Bengal state where demonstrators stopped trains at several locations. In southern Kerala, where the state government led by the opposition Communist Party of India backed the protest, streets were empty and shops shuttered.
India’s economy has bounced back after experiencing a major blow during the first two years of the pandemic. But many jobs have disappeared, with unemployment rising to 8% in December.
IU officials continue work abstention
The officials of Islamic University continued abstaining from work for a ninth consecutive day on Sunday on the campus in Kushtia demanding to press home their three point-charter of demands.
Around more than two hundred officers from different offices and departments joined in the work abstention programme.
They staged a sit-in programme in front of the university's administration building from 9:00am to 2:00pm and chanted different slogans to press home their demands.
Also read: In-person classes to resume at IU Tuesday
Their demands are- increased pay scale, extension of retirement age from 60 to 62 years and a change in working hours from 8am to 2pm instead of 9am to 4:30pm.
Speaking in the protest programme, the officials said that they had been agitating in different times since 2016 to implement their demands.
The administration had always stopped the movement with false promises but they did not take any effective decision regarding them.
They started abstaining from work for one hour from February 19. To intensify the movement, they started a five-hour strike from Saturday.
IU Officers' Association president ATM Emdadul Alam said that the officials of different universities including Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar had been enjoying the facilities. The IU administration only gave them assurance when they had been agitating for the implementation of their demands. But they did not take any initiative.
Also read: 1,270 seats still vacant at IU
They would continue their demonstration until their demands were met, he added.
IU vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam said that they had no objection regarding the demands of the officials. As there had a financial issue here, the issue will have to be through UGC.
They asked UGC to form a committee with their office representatives and initiatives would be taken regarding the officials through a process,' the VC said.
Sunamganj man dies allegedly in police custody, protesters block road
Local people blocked the Sunamganj-Sylhet highway on Monday with the body of a 40-year-old man, who died allegedly in police custody.
The protest took place around 12 pm in the Paglabazar area of Sunamganj-Sylhet road in Shantiganj upazila of the district causing a long tailback on the highway for three hours.
Read:Himangshu’s death in ‘police custody’: 3-member probe body formed
The deceased was identified as Ujir Mia, 40, of Shatru Mardan village of the upazilla, who was arrested by Santiganj Police on February 9 in a theft case and was produced before the court on the following day.
However, Ujir Mia was granted bail on February 11 and was admitted to Kaitak Hospital of Chhatak after falling sick, said Kazi Muktadir Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Saantiganj Police Station.
He died on Monday while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
"The doctor can explain the cause of Ujir's death," said the OC.
However, Ujir's brother Dalim Mia said his brother was tortured at the police station after being arrested.
Following the death, outraged locals blocked the highway with the body of Ujir Mia, demanding justice allegedly for the torture in police custody.
Read: Held for killing wife, man dies in police custody
On information, Sunamganj Additional Superintendent of Police Abu Saeed and Additional District Magistrate Anwar-ul-Halim rushed to the spot and assured the protesters that action will be taken against those responsible, subject to investigation.
Following the assurance from the officials, the locals lifted the blockade.
Canadian police appear to end protesters’ siege of Ottawa
Hundreds of police in riot gear swept through Canada’s capital Saturday, retaking control of the streets around the Parliament buildings and appearing to end the siege of Ottawa after three weeks of protests.
Protesters, angry over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions and with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, retreated from the largest police operation in the country’s history, with police arresting or driving out demonstrators and towing away their trucks.
In Ottawa, Interim Police Chief Steve Bell said that some smaller protests continued but “this unlawful occupation is over. We will continue with our mission until it is complete.”
While some protesters vowed to stay on Ottawa’s streets, one organizer told reporters they had “decided to peacefully withdraw.”
“We will simply regroup as a grassroots movement,” Tom Marazzo said at a press conference.
READ: Canadian police arrest 2 leaders of protesting truckers
Police had been brought in from across the country to help in the clearance operation, Bell said, adding that 170 people were arrested Friday and Saturday and multiple investigations had been launched because of weapons seizures.
“We’re not going anywhere until you have your streets back,” he said at a press conference, vowing to go after protesters who don’t disperse with “financial sanctions and criminal charges.”By early Saturday afternoon, protesters were gone from the street in front of Parliament Hill, the collection of government offices that includes the Parliament buildings, which had the heart of the protests. It had been occupied by protesters and their trucks since late last month, turning into a carnival on weekends.
“They are trying to push us all away,” said one protester, Jeremy Glass of Shelburne, Ontario, as authorities forced the crowds to move further from the Parliament buildings. “The main camp is seized now. We’re no longer in possession of it.”
Police said protesters remained “aggressive and assaultive” and that pepper spray had been used to protect officers. Authorities also said children had been brought right to the police lines, saying it was “putting the children at risk.”
Canadian authorities also announced they had used emergency powers to seize 76 bank accounts connected to protesters, totaling roughly $3.2 million ($2.5 million U.S.).
On Saturday, they also closed a bridge into the nation’s capital from Quebec to prevent a renewed influx of protesters.
Around midday, protest organizers said they had ordered truckers to move away from Parliament Hill, decrying the police’s actions as “abuses of power.”
“To move the trucks will require time,” organizers said in a statement. “We hope that (police) will show judicious restraint.”
Earlier, Ottawa police addressed the protesters in a tweet: “We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. We were slow and methodical, yet you were assaultive and aggressive with officers and the horses. Based on your behavior, we are responding by including helmets and batons for our safety.”
Police said one protester launched a gas canister and was arrested as police advanced.
Earlier, Bell said most of the arrests were for mischief charges and that no protesters had been hurt. One officer had a minor injury, he said.
Those arrested included four protest leaders. One received bail while the others remained jailed.
Tow truck operators wearing neon-green ski masks, with their companies’ decals taped over on their trucks to conceal their identities, arrived under police escort and started removing hundreds of big rigs, campers and other vehicles parked shoulder to shoulder near Parliament. Police smashed through the door of at least one camper Friday before hauling it away.
The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began Friday morning, when hundreds of police, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone and began leading demonstrators away in handcuffs through the snowy streets as holdout truckers blared their horns.
READ: Canadian judge orders an end to blockade at border bridge
The capital and its paralyzed streets represented the movement’s last major stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S. and created one of the most serious tests yet for Trudeau. They also shook Canada’s reputation for civility, with some blaming America’s influence.
The Freedom Convoy demonstrations initially focused on Canada’s vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country but soon morphed into a broad attack on COVID-19 precautions and Trudeau’s government.
Ottawa residents complained of being harassed and intimidated by the truckers and obtained a court injunction to stop their incessant honking.
Trudeau portrayed the protesters as members of a “fringe” element. Canadians have largely embraced the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, with the vast majority vaccinated, including an estimated 90% of the nation’s truckers. Some of the vaccine and mask mandates imposed by the provinces are already falling away rapidly.
The biggest border blockade, at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production. Authorities lifted the siege last weekend after arresting dozens of protesters.
But even as things were growing calmer in Ottawa, the Canadian border agency warned that operations at a key truck crossing from western Canada into the United States had been slowed by protesters, advising travelers to find a different route. The crossing near the town of Surrey remained open, officials said, but further details were not available.
The protests have been cheered on and received donations from conservatives in the U.S.
Ottawa crackdown: police arrest 100 after 3-week protest
Police arrested scores of demonstrators and towed away vehicles Friday in Canada’s besieged capital, and a stream of trucks started leaving under the pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
By evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and nearly two dozen vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, authorities said. One officer had a minor injury, but no protesters were hurt, interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said.
Police “continue to push forward to take control of our streets,” he said, adding: “We will work day and night until this is completed.”
Those arrested included four protest leaders. One received bail while the others remained jailed.
The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began in the morning, when hundreds of police, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone and began leading demonstrators away in handcuffs through the snowy streets as holdout truckers blared their horns.
Also read: Ottawa declares state of emergency over COVID-19 protests
Tow truck operators — wearing neon-green ski masks, with their companies’ decals taped over on their trucks to conceal their identities — arrived under police escort and started removing the hundreds of big rigs, campers and other vehicles parked shoulder-to-shoulder near Parliament. Police smashed through the door of at least one RV camper before hauling it away.
Scuffles broke out in places, and police repeatedly went nose-to-nose with the protesters and pushed the crowd back amid cries of “Freedom!” and the singing of the national anthem, “O Canada.” Later police on horses were used to push back the crowd for a time.
Police said late in the afternoon that protesters had assaulted officers and tried to take their weapons. Some began dismantling equipment at a stage where they had played music for weeks, saying they didn’t want it to get destroyed.
Many protesters stood their ground in the face of one of the biggest police enforcement actions in Canada’s history, with officers drawn from around the country.
“Freedom was never free,” said trucker Kevin Homaund, of Montreal. “So what if they put the handcuffs on us and they put us in jail?”
Also read: Canadian police arrest 2 leaders of protesting truckers
But a steady procession of trucks began leaving Parliament Hill in the afternoon.
“There are indications we are now starting to see progress,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.
Police would not disclose how many protesters or vehicles remained downtown. All indications were that police would be working into the weekend to clear the area.
The capital and its paralyzed streets represented the movement’s last stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S. and created one of the most serious tests yet for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They also shook Canada’s reputation for civility, with some blaming America’s influence.
Authorities had hesitated to move against the protests, in part because of fears of violence. The demonstrations have drawn right-wing extremists and veterans, some of them armed.
With police and the government facing accusations that they let the protests get out of hand, Trudeau on Monday invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act. That gave law enforcement extraordinary authority to declare the blockades illegal, tow away trucks, arrest the drivers, suspend their licenses and freeze their bank accounts.
Ottawa police made their first move to end the occupation late Thursday with the arrest of two key protest leaders. They also sealed off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters.
The emergency act enabled law enforcement authorities to compel tow truck companies to assist. Ottawa police said earlier that they couldn’t find tow truck drivers willing to help because they either sympathized with the movement or feared retaliation.
As police worked to dismantle the siege, Pat King, one of the protest leaders, told truckers, “Please stay peaceful,” while also threatening the livelihoods of the tow truck operators.
“You are committing career suicide,” King warned on Facebook. “We know where the trucks came from.”
King himself was later arrested by officers who surrounded him in his car.
Ottawa police had made it clear for days that they were preparing to retake the streets. On Friday, even as the operation was underway, police issued another round of warnings via social media and loudspeaker, offering protesters one more chance to leave and avoid arrest.
Some locked arms instead as officers formed a line to push them back.
Dan Holland, a protester from London Ontario, packed up his car as police closed in. “I don’t want to get beat up by this police,” he said.
Children bundled up in coats and hats stood amid the crowd. Police said the protesters had put the youngsters in the middle in the confrontation.
The Freedom Convoy demonstrations initially focused on Canada’s vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country but soon morphed into a broad attack on COVID-19 precautions and Trudeau’s government.
Ottawa residents complained of being harassed and intimidated by the truckers and obtained a court injunction to stop their incessant honking.
Trudeau portrayed the protesters as members of a “fringe” element. Canadians have largely embraced the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, with the vast majority vaccinated, including an estimated 90% of the nation’s truckers. Some of the vaccine and mask mandates imposed by the provinces are already falling away rapidly.
The biggest border blockade, at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production. Authorities lifted the siege last weekend after arresting dozens of protesters.
The final border blockade, in Manitoba, across from North Dakota, ended peacefully on Wednesday.
The protests have been cheered on and received donations from conservatives in the U.S.
Canadian police arrest 2 leaders of protesting truckers
Hundreds of truckers clogging Canada’s capital stood their ground and defiantly blasted their horns Thursday, even as police arrested two protest leaders and threatened to break up the nearly three-week protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Busloads of police arrived near Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, and workers put up extra fences around government buildings. Police also essentially began sealing off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters.
“The action is imminent,” said interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell. “We absolutely are committed to end this unlawful demonstration.”
Police arrested organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber around Parliament Hill, but officers were not moving in force on the demonstrators. Police took Lich into custody late Thursday.
Police continued negotiating with the protesters and trying to persuade them to go home, Bell said. “We want this demonstration to end peacefully,” he said, but added: “If they do not peacefully leave, we have plans.”
Also read: Key US-Canada bridge reopens after police clear protesters
Many of the truckers in the self-styled Freedom Convoy appeared unmoved by days of warnings from police and the government that they were risking arrest and could see their rigs seized and bank accounts frozen.
“I’m prepared to sit on my ass and watch them hit me with pepper spray,” said one of their leaders, Pat King. As for the trucks parked bumper-to-bumper, he said: “There’s no tow trucks in Canada that will touch them.”
King later told truckers to lock their doors.
Amid the rising tensions, truckers outside Parliament blared their horns in defiance of a court injunction against honking, issued for the benefit of neighborhood residents.
Ottawa represented the movement’s last stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S., inflicted economic damage on both countries and created a political crisis for Trudeau.
The protests have shaken Canada’s reputation for civility and rule-following and inspired similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
“It’s high time that these illegal and dangerous activities stop,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared in Parliament, not far from where the more than 300 trucks were parked.
“They are a threat to our economy and our relationship with trading partners,” he said. “They are a threat to public safety.”
Ottawa police began locking down a wide swath of the downtown area, allowing in only those who live or work there after they pass through one of more than 100 checkpoints, the interim chief said.
Also read:Canada protests sound common refrain: ‘We stand for freedom’
Police were especially worried about the children among the protesters. Bell said police were working with child-welfare agencies to determine how to safely remove the youngsters before authorities move in.
Early this week, the prime minister invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act, empowering law enforcement authorities to declare the blockades illegal, tow away trucks, arrest the drivers, suspend their licenses and take other measures.
On Thursday, Trudeau and some of his top ministers took turns warning the protesters to leave, in an apparent move by the government to avert a clash, or at least show it had gone the extra mile to avoid one.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government began freezing truckers’ accounts as threatened. “It is happening. I do have the numbers in front of me,” she said.
Ottawa police likewise handed out leaflets for the second straight day demanding the truckers end the siege, and also helpfully placed notices on vehicles informing owners how and where to pick up their trucks if they are towed.
The occupation has infuriated many Ottawa residents.
“We’ve seen people intimidated, harassed and threatened. We’ve seen apartment buildings that have been chained up. We have seen fires set in the corridors. Residents are terrorized,” said Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.
The protests by demonstrators in trucks, tractors and motor homes initially focused on Canada’s vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country but soon morphed into a broader attack on COVID-19 precautions and Trudeau’s government.
The biggest, most damaging of the blockades at the border took place at the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. Before authorities arrested dozens of protesters last weekend and lifted the siege, it disrupted the flow of auto parts between the two countries and forced the industry to curtail production.
The final blockade, in Manitoba, ended peacefully on Wednesday.
The movement has drawn support from right-wing extremists and veterans, some of them armed — one reason authorities have hesitated to move against them.
Fox News personalities and U.S. conservatives such as Donald Trump have egged on the protests. Trudeau complained on Thursday that “roughly half of the funding to the barricaders here is coming from the United States.”
Some security experts said that dispersing the protest in Ottawa could be tricky and dangerous, with the potential for violence, and that a heavy-handed law enforcement response could be used as propaganda by antigovernment extremists.
Trucks were parked shoulder-to-shoulder downtown, some with tires removed to hamper towing.
“There is not really a playbook,” said David Carter, a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice and a former police officer. “I know there are police chiefs in the U.S. looking at this and developing strategic plans and partnerships to manage a protest like this if it should occur in their cities.”
The presence of children also complicated the planning. As a showdown seemed to draw near, Canadian Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said: “To those who have children with them, this is no place for children. Take them home immediately.”
Dozens arrested to suppress protests on Myanmar anniversary
Security forces in Myanmar have arrested dozens of people in a preemptive move to suppress plans for a nationwide strike Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of the army’s seizure of power, state-run media reported.
Opponents of military rule in the country have called for a “Silent Strike” aimed at emptying the streets of Myanmar’s cities and towns by having people stay home and businesses shut their doors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. One of the planned follow-up protests then wants supporters to make noise by banging pots and pans, or honking horns.
The military’s takeover on Feb. 1, 2021, ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party was about to begin a second five-year term in office after winning a landslide victory in the previous year’s November election.
Also read: Bangladesh needs to guard against unfolding instability in Myanmar: Ex-FS
At least 58 people have been arrested since last week after posting notices on Facebook that their shops and businesses would be closed on Tuesday, according to reports in the state-run Myanma Alinn Daily newspaper.
The detainees from the cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Myawaddy include shopkeepers, restaurant owners, a doctor, a make-up artist, a mobile phone repair shop owner and an astrologer, Myanma Alinn Daily reported.
Their arrests followed official warnings that people participating in the strike could be arrested and put on trial, including for offenses under the Counter-Terrorism Law that carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment and the possible confiscation of their property.
The crackdown was confirmed by friends and family of some of the targets, including the SIP Café Club coffeeshop in Mandalay.
“The (Facebook) page announced it would be closed on Feb. 1 by using the words ‘Silent Strike,’ and the cafe was confiscated,” one of its workers told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal from the authorities.
Two previous “Silent Strikes” last year, in March and on Human Rights Day in December, appeared to enjoy popular support despite intimidation by the authorities, which in some cases did not allow participating shops to reopen until a week later.
The government’s warnings pose a dilemma for ethnic Chinese business owners because Tuesday falls during the celebration of Lunar New Year, when many would close their shops for the holiday.
Widespread nonviolent demonstrations followed the army’s takeover initially, but armed resistance began after protests were put down with lethal force. About 1,500 civilians have died but the government has been unable to suppress the insurgency.
Also read: No peace in Myanmar 1 year after military takeover
President Joe Biden in a statement marking the anniversary called for the military to reverse its actions, free Suu Kyi and other detainees and engage in meaningful dialogue to return Myanmar on a path to democracy. The State Department also said it was working closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, to hold accountable those responsible for the takeover.
The head of the military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, on Monday went through the formality of obtaining a six-month extension on a state of emergency allowing the State Administration Council, the body that assumed power in last year’s takeover, to continue running the country.
The extension was granted by the National Defense and Security Council, whose membership is made up of the top military chiefs and cooperative politicians, state television MRTV reported. The military government has already declared its intention to maintain a state of emergency until it holds a new election in August 2023.
As part of the process of applying for the extension, the State Administration Council, which exercises executive, legislative and some judicial powers, submitted a report about its work over the last 12 months to justify the extension.
The council declared that it had done its best to carry out its duties, but that threats from domestic and foreign “terrorists” remained and that it has more work to do before elections can be held.
The military has designated the main groups opposed to its rule as terrorist organizations.