US urges Canada to use "federal powers", end "freedom convoy" protests
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The US Department of Homeland Security offers Canada its “full support” to deal with Covid-19 vaccine mandate protests.
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The protesters have called on Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to alter the country's Covid-19 policies and restrictions.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Thursday that the White House has urged Canada's government to use "federal powers" to end Covid-19 vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa and other Canadian cities
Members of US President Joe Biden's administration “held a series of high level calls with their Canadian counterparts, urging them to use their federal powers to end the blockades,” while offering the US Department of Homeland Security's “full support” to deal with the protests, indicated the CBC.
The truckers are protesting Covid-19 restrictions in Canada, which force them to be fully vaccinated or undergo quarantine when they cross the US border.
The Ambassador Bridge, which was shut down on Tuesday and is currently blocked to commercial traffic due to protests, is the busiest bridge between Canada and the United States and is a vital link for the auto industry.
Canada's public safety minister described Wednesday the bridge protests as "illegal", claiming the truckers were “hurting Canadians".
It is noteworthy that the protesters have called on Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to alter the country's Covid-19 policies and restrictions. They even organized sit-ins outside Canada’s Parliament in Ottawa for several weeks in protest of the pandemic mandates.
In response, Trudeau and other government officials, considered the protesters participating in the "freedom convoy" as a “fringe minority” and extremists.
For its part, the Ottawa police have threatened to arrest the protesters and anyone who provides them with “material support”.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
