Trucker convoy ends in Canada, Ottawa back to normal

• 

The last trucks were towed out of Ottawa on Sunday and streets were quiet for the first time in over a month following a massive police operation that ended a trucker convoy by demonstrators rejecting COVID health restrictions.

On January 22, a mass protest in Canada's capital of Ottawa began against vaccine mandates.

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Federal Emergencies Act for the first time in history.

A large clean-up operation was beginning in Ottawa's cold downtown, where police in riot gear had clashed with trucker-led protesters for two days, eventually pushing them out of their protest center near Parliament.

Jeff Lindley, who lives and works downtown, told AFP that he was "happy to have my city back," detailing the calm that befell the city after the protests ended. 

After a deep freeze befell the city, early Sunday, police were stationed at checkpoints barring access to the downtown area. According to AFP, one man by the name of John said "It's pretty locked down, all I see is cops everywhere."

The central section of Ottawa remains off-limits to everyone save local residents and employees, according to Ottawa police.

Midmorning, police stated that two persons had been detained, bringing the total number of arrests to 191, including protest leaders since police went in on Friday.

Fifty-seven cars had been removed out of the city center, which had been immobilized since January 29 when hundreds of trucks, RVs, and other vehicles parked there in protest.

Residents of Ottawa were not woken by the constant honking that had been a feature of the protests.

Dave Chapin, who was out and about for the first time in weeks, gave officers a thumbs up. "People have a right to protest, but at the end of the day after you've made your point you go home," he said. 

"These guys just stayed -- honking and intimidating (locals) and disrupting our lives."

 "These past weeks have been absolute hell," he added.