Freedom Convoy take their revenge on Trudeau after ‘swastika-wavers’ smear: Protesters cause havoc by completely blocking Canada’s busiest trade route into the US and slam their ‘disgusting’ PM for ‘vilifying people exercising their democratic right’

• Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international land border crossing, which links Canada and the US, is blocked by protesters for a third day in a row
• The protests at the bridge stem from ongoing demonstrations in Ottawa which started 12 days ago as truckers and their supporters call for an end to COVID-19 restrictions
• Protesters have slammed PM Justin Trudeau for smearing them as ‘swastika wavers’ during his remarks on Monday about ‘Nazi symbolism’ and ‘racist imagery’ being used by some protesters 
• He appeared to shift tone on Tuesday, saying he understood ‘how frustrated everyone is’ by the restrictions
• Freedom Convoy organizers and supporters have said they are being portrayed in a negative light through the media’s coverage and are tired of being labeled as a ‘cult’ and as ‘villains’ 
• On Monday, Trudeau ordered protesters to stop after Ottawa’s mayor declared a state of emergency 
• Police in Ottawa have arrested 23 protesters and more than 1,300 fines have been issued
• This week, police arrested a 78-year-old great-grandfather for honking his horn a day before a judge banned honking in response to a lawsuit from a disgruntled resident
• Lawmakers expressed concern over the economy after truckers blocked two key crossings at the US border
•  Protesters have said they will not leave until all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted
• Canadian provinces Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan have signaled plans to ease pandemic restrictions 

Freedom Convoy protesters opposed to the government’s vaccine mandates for truckers continued to block the busiest border crossing on Wednesday, while slamming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for smearing them as ‘swastika-wavers’ and vilifying them while they exercise their democratic right to protest.  

For a third day in a row, trucks and vehicles lined the main trade route leading to Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, which typically sees about 8,000 trucks pass through daily and accounts for 25 percent of trade between the two countries. 

Traffic has been rerouted to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, allowing a trickle of traffic to get through, but as of Wednesday morning, trucks were also backed up for several miles in Port Huron. The bridge is completely blocked for those exiting the bridge and entering Canada from Michigan. 

The city’s Mayor Drew Dilkins called for extra police along the border to help plan for a ‘protracted protest’ and said ‘every hour this protest continues our community hurts’. 

Protesters have also been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for more than a week and a half. About 50 trucks remained there Wednesday. 

Truckers have been protesting along the border and in the capital city Ottawa for nearly two weeks calling for an end to the government’s vaccine mandate.

But so far, their demands have been ignored by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the liberal media who they slammed for smearing them and for their coverage of the demonstrations.  

‘I think it’s disgusting for any leader of a country to vilify people for exercising their democratic rights, their right to protest, the right to demonstrate peacefully,’ one trucker, Andy Wing, told Fox News.  

In response to the protests though, a rapidly growing list of Canadian provinces moved to lift their COVID-19 restrictions Wednesday. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island announced plans this week to roll back some or all measures, with Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropping its vaccine passport for places such as restaurants immediately and getting rid of masks at the end of the month. 

Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused Alberta Premier Jason Kenney of allowing an ‘illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.’  

On Sunday, a 78-year-old great-grandfather was arrested and manhandled by heavy-handed police officers in Ottawa for honking his horn. The 4ft-10in elderly man was fined $118 for causing a disturbance and suffered injuries to his shoulders and his legs. His arrest came a day after a judge banned honking in the captial city after a lawsuit brought by a resident. 

On Monday, Trudeau ordered protesters to stop after Ottawa’s mayor declared a state of emergency. So far, 23 protesters have been arrested and more than 1,300 fines have been issued.

During an emergency debate in the House of Commons that night, Trudeau said the protests have to ‘stop’ and smeared those taking part in them as ‘a few people shouting and waving swastikas.’ A flag incorporating the Nazi symbol was spotted in the initial days of the protests, and DailyMail.com’s reporter, who’s been there for a week, has not seen any. 

One trucker told Fox News that Trudeau’s portrayal of the protesters was ‘a little bit funny, because he’s calling us terrorists, yet we have six-year-old kids out here playing hockey. We have four or five bouncy castles during the weekend, with hundreds of kids playing around.’ 

Freedom Convoy organizers and supporters have said they are being portrayed in a negative light through the media’s coverage and are tired of being labeled as a ‘cult’ and as ‘villains’

‘They’re spinning their own narrative,’ Ontario-based trucker Brigitte Belton told Fox News, referring to both the American and Canadian media. ‘This isn’t a cult … The federal government, the city of Ottawa, all those organizations that are out to get us right now, maybe that’s the cult.’ 

Unvaccinated Belton, who helped organize the Freedom Convoy when she was barred from crossing the border into the United States due to the Canadian vaccine mandate, added that she is downright disgusted by the coverage, which she said is ‘totally biased’ against the truckers. 

For a third day in a row, trucks and vehicles lined the main route leading to Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, halting traffic at the border

On Wednesday morning, the Freedom Convoy blockade at Ambassador Bridge remained in place as dozens of vehicles lined the road leading to the bridge, blocking traffic for those exiting the bridge and entering Canada from Michigan

A day after Trudeau smeared the truckers as ‘swastika wavers’, he appeared to shift tone, saying he understood ‘how frustrated everyone is’ and that ‘the time is coming when we will be able to relax’, without providing details as officials try to put an end to the protest. 

It came as right-wing premiers in provinces Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan announced phased timetables to remove Covid-19 restrictions in the coming weeks in apparent defiance of Trudeau.   

Conservative leaders, who have repeatedly questioned the prime minister for his handling of the pandemic, also criticized Trudeau’s remarks from Monday, accusing him of stoking division during the protests. 

‘We are at a crisis point, not just outside the doors and across the country, but the country overall,’ Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen said. ‘And so much of it is because of the things he’s said and done.’  

Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed the demonstrators are being treated like terrorists. 

‘This is a peaceful, political protest. No one has shown any evidence to the contrary. It’s not a drug trafficking or human trafficking operation. It’s not Al Qaeda,’ Carlson said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday.

‘These are Canadian citizens who drive trucks for a living, but they’re being treated like a terror group.’ 

The truckers themselves have strongly denied that they have ties to ultra-right-wing groups, insisting they are just ‘ordinary truckers,’ he said. 

But as the protests near the two-mark in Ottawa and three days at the border crossing, the protests also threaten supplies of fresh produce, livestock and other food. 

People play hockey while vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, as truckers and their supporters continue to protest vaccine mandates 

A group of people stand around as vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge on Wednesday morning as the Freedom Convoy protests continue

Windsor Chief of Police Pam Mizuno and Deputy Chief Frank Providenti walk by Wednesday morning while vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, for the third day in a row

On Tuesday night, traffic was still blocked at Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor, Ontario with Detroit

Flavio Volpe, president of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, said the protesters have no right to park vehicles in the middle of roads. 

He questioned how many of the protesters were truckers because trucker associations and large logistics companies have disavowed the blockades.

‘It is really a collection of kind of anti-government provocateurs,’ he said. 

Even a five-hour delay can cause production disruptions because factories are running so lean on part supplies with an already fragile supply chain, said Jeff Schuster, president of the LMC Automotive consulting firm in Troy, Michigan.

‘Everything is so ‘just-in-time’ these days,’ he said. ‘We’re still dealing with parts shortages in general and supply chain issues. This is just another wrench in the industry that we´re dealing with right now.’ 

The bridge, one of the busiest border crossings on the continent, handling around 8,000 trucks a day, reopened on Tuesday for U.S.-bound vehicles, but the Canada Border Services Agency’s website showed lanes from the United States were still ‘temporarily closed’ Wednesday morning.

The bridge closure caused a shortage of parts at carmaker Stellantis’s assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, and the company had to cut short some shifts on Tuesday, it said in a statement, adding that the plant had resumed production Wednesday morning.

Business associations on both sides of the border have called for the reopening of the bridge. 

‘As our economies emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, we cannot allow any group to undermine the cross-border trade that supports families on both sides of the border, ‘ they said in a joint statement.

A person holding Canadian flags shouts ‘Freedom’ near Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, as truckers and their supporters continue to protest Wednesday

A person holds a sign while vehicles block the route leading from the Ambassador Bridge, linking Detroit and Windsor, for a third day

Protesters also closed another important U.S.-Canada border crossing in Coutts, Alberta. 

The impasse in Alberta has stranded travelers and cross-border truckers, disrupted millions of dollars in trade and impeded access to basic goods and medical services for area residents. 

Garrett Buchanan drove 10 hours from High Prairie in northern Alberta to join the protest and said he is staying until their demands are met.

‘Yeah – until the mandates get dropped, and if they can work on getting (Trudeau) out, I´d stay longer for that, too,’ he said.

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett said he had hoped the provincial government would go further in its announcement and isn´t expecting things to return to normal any time soon.

‘Leaving masking until March 1 is not going to make anybody happy,’ he said.

The daily demonstrations staged by the Freedom Truck Convoy are centered in Ottawa, where demonstrators have used hundreds of parked trucks to paralyze parts of the capital for more than 10 days. Protesters have said they will not leave until all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. 

The daily demonstrations, going on day 12, began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers who enter the country by land, but has since expanded to call for the dismantling of nearly all COVID-related restrictions.

They intensified this week, when truckers started blocking the Ambassador Bridge.  

On the other side of the country, video surfaced of a Calgary-based pastor Artur Pawlowski being arrested for mischief by allegedly participating at the Coutts border blockade, where protesters have blocked Alberta’s most important border for the past week.

A trucker carries a gas canister with ‘Freedom of Choice’ written on it, as truckers and supporters continue to protest in Ottawa on Wednesday

People carry gas canisters at the Coventry road staging ground, as truckers and supporters continue to protest in Ottawa on Wednesday

A view of the saunas at the truckers staging ground at Coventry road, as truckers and supporters continue to protest in Ottawa on Wednesday

A protestor holds a sign that reads ‘communism has no home here’ while protesting in Ottawa on Wednesday

Two protesters with signs walk in front of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office as demonstrators continue to protest on Wednesday in Ottawa

Protesters and supporters clear snow and ice in front of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office as demonstrators continue to protest on Wednesday in Ottawa

Gas cans line the street in front of Parliament Hill as truckers and supporters continue to protest on Wednesday in Ottawa

People pump gas canisters at the Coventry road staging ground, as truckers and supporters continue to protest Wednesday

Truck driver Lloyd Brubacher stands in front of his truck as demonstrators continue to protest the Covid-19 vaccine mandates

Truck driver Lloyd Brubacher looks out from his truck as demonstrators continue to protest the Covid-19 vaccine mandates

Police patrol the area near Parliament Hill as truckers and supporters continue to protest on Wednesday in Ottawa

Protesters stay warm by a fire pit as demonstrators continue to protest the Covid-19 vaccine mandates on Wednesday in Ottawa

Quebec MP Joël Lightbound, a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party, resigned Tuesday after accusing the prime minister of dividing the people of Canada, saying the federal government’s pandemic response has become ‘politicized’ and ‘divisive.’ 

Police came under fire for their initially permissive attitude toward the blockade but began trying to take back control Sunday night with the seizure of thousands of liters of fuel and the removal of an oil tanker truck.

They have received support from additional officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and others. On Tuesday, police said more reinforcements were needed – both officers and people with legal expertise in insurance and licensing, suggesting intentions to pursue enforcement through commercial vehicle licenses.

The office of Canada’s Public Safety Minister, Marco Mendicino, has said that they are in talks with the city to provide more officers as well as tactical troops, joint intelligence and operational teams and community liaison teams.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on Tuesday. ‘I let him know that … we’ll make sure the city has the resources they need,’ Trudeau said in a tweet.

Some provinces, including the two most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, have started lifting their COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place to combat the highly transmissible Omicron variant that emerged late last year. 

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island announced plans this week to roll back some or all measures, with Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropping its vaccine passport for places such as restaurants immediately and getting rid of masks at the end of the month.

Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused Alberta Premier Jason Kenney of allowing an “illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.”

Protesters have been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for more than a week and a half. About 50 trucks remained there Wednesday.

Also, more than 400 trucks have paralyzed downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a protest that began late last month.

The Freedom Convoy was supposed to end on January 29 but as of February 7 truckers are still dominating the downtown area of Ottawa and Toronto

Moment great-grandfather, 78, is arrested by two Canadian cops for HONKING his horn 

A 4ft-10inch great grandfather was handcuffed and arrested by two Canadian cops for honking his horn in support of Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa on Sunday – a day before a judge outlawed blaring horns due to left-wing backlash against the anti-mandate protesters who have been smeared by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as ‘swastika-wavers’. 

A bystander filmed while two officers pulled over Gerry Charlebois, 78, for beeping his horn.

‘What did he do wrong?’ the bystander asked. ‘None of your f****** concern, man,’ one officer responded. 

The six-minute video shows officers shouting back and forth with furious onlookers and Charlebois as he protests his arrest. 

Eventually an officer in a blue surgical mask grabs Charlebois to restrain him, and brings the vaccinated great-grandfather down to his knees in the middle of the street before handcuffing him against his van. 

Charlebois sustained injuries to his arms, hands, shoulders and knees. He was later fined $118 for ‘unnecessary noise’ but has not been criminally charged.

Gerry Charlebois, 78, was brought to his knees and arrested in Ottawa on Sunday for allegedly honking his horn, a day before a judge outlawed honking in the city

In a six minute video posted on YouTube, the man filming is heard criticizing the officers for following the ruling and encouraging the elderly man to not give out his information

An Ontario Superior Court Justice temporarily banned honking and air horn blowing for 10 days on Monday, after a lawsuit brought by a downtown resident who measured the noise in her apartment at more than 80 decibels during the protests, which began on January 29.  

‘I meant no harm,’ Charlebois told the Toronto Sun in an interview Tuesday. ‘I just gave the trucker a thumbs-up and a honk.’ 

In the video, the bystander filming is heard criticizing the officer for following the ruling and encouraging Charlebois to not give out his information.  

‘You don’t have to answer his questions, sir,’ he tells Charlebois. He then tells the officer, ‘You’re abusing old men.’

The officer and Charlebois then walk back toward the trunk of the van.

‘Because I tooted the horn,’ Charlebois begins. 

‘That is why you’re pulled over,’ the officer states. 

‘It’s called communism. It’s communism. You don’t have to show anything. You didn’t do anything wrong,’ the man behind the camera continues.  

The officer tells the man recording that it’s an offense to beep the horn. 

Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean granted a 10-day injunction the next day banning horn honking and air horn blowing on Monday. 

‘The only purpose of this (horn blowing) is to bring attention to this protest,’ McLean said. ‘There’s no need for that anymore. The public is fully aware of what’s going on.’ 

The injunction was in response to a lawsuit by downtown resident Zexi Li, 21. Her lawyer, Paul Champ, said the level of noise measured in her apartment was akin to ‘having a lawn mower running in her living room, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’ according to the Ottawa Citizen.

The $9.8 million class action lawsuit is open to up to 6,000 downtown residents who live in or near the protest’s ‘red zone.’ 

As the officer waits for Charlebois to show his ID on Sunday, Charlebois turns around to walk away.

That’s when the officer grabs him by the arm and twists him, causing him to fall on one knee on the asphalt. He gets up and the officer presses him against his vehicle.

Charlebois is then walked back to the patrol car. 

He was given a $118 ticket for ‘unnecessary noise,’ according to the Toronto Sun. He sustained injuries to his arms, hands, shoulders and knees. 

The bystander behind the camera yells, ‘They represent Trudaeu and the police chief, Sloly!  That’s what they represent. Hate, division. You are not protecting and serving nobody.

‘This is b******. Communist f****** police,’ the man continues to yell. 

‘I was in shock,’ Charlebois told the Toronto Sun. ‘When (the police) pulled me over, he told me I was in trouble for honking the horn.’

Charlebois said he drove to the area to look at the trucks and planned on parking his van and walking to Parliament Hill.  

‘That’s why I put my wallet in the back of the van,’ he said. ‘I was hoping to go in there, but when I got there I saw all of the commotion. I decided it was too much so I just looked from the van and then started to head home.’

Though he was at the protest in support of other demonstrators, he says he’s fully vaccinated and plans to get his booster shot soon. 

‘He’s just 4 foot 10,’ said his son Steve, who added that they may have to take his dad to the hospital for an X-ray for his shoulder. 

‘He wouldn’t hurt anybody.’

Another son, Gerald, said: ‘They didn’t seem to arrest any of those big truckers like that.’ 

‘I find it disgusting. There was no need to be so rough with him,’ he added.

The officer admitted that the man was being stopped because he honked his horn as the city deals with days of ongoing protests, led by truckers, against COVID restrictions

A great-grandfather was handcuffed and hauled away by two Canadian cops for honking his horn in support of Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa on Sunday

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