Support for Ottawa truck protest brings rebuke, as PM demands end to chaos

Canada's public safety minister said on Monday that some officials in the United States should stay out of his country's domestic affairs, joining other Canadian leaders in pushing back against prominent Republicans who have offered support for the trucker protesters that have besieged Ottawa in a campaign against COVID-19 restrictions.

A day after the Canadian capital declared a state of emergency, the mayor pleaded for almost 2,000 extra police officers to help quell the raucous nightly demonstrations staged by the so-called Freedom Truck Convoy, which has used hundreds of parked trucks to paralyze the business district for almost two weeks.

"Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy, and our fellow citizens' daily lives," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an emergency debate in Parliament, his first appearance in nearly a week, while the protest continued outside. "It has to stop."

The protests, which last week included some people waving Confederate and Nazi flags, have been largely peaceful but earsplitting horn blaring by the protesters had become a nuisance. On Monday, a Canadian judge granted an interim injunction preventing people from sounding horns in downtown Ottawa.

The protests are threatening to snowball into a full-blown political crisis for Trudeau, Agence France-Presse commented.

Trudeau and his family left Ottawa and stayed at an undisclosed location as the convoy started rolling into the city due to security concerns.

"When will the prime minister stop hiding, show up for Canadians, show some leadership and fix the mess that he's created?" the Conservative Party's interim leader Candice Bergen told the House of Commons.

Protests have unfolded elsewhere, too. A truck-convoy protest near the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing with the US, caused long traffic backups along the span from the Detroit side of the Detroit River.

Canadian politicians have increasingly denounced the Ottawa protest that the head of the city's police called an "insurrection".

Foreign funding

But in the US, many GOP members have made comments supporting the demonstrations, including former US president Donald Trump, who said Trudeau has "destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates". Tesla chief executive Elon Musk also has pledged support.

Ottawa police said they are aware of US funding for the protests as well.

Protesters have said they will not leave until all vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. They also called for the removal of Trudeau's government.

Prominent US Republicans including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton complained after crowdfunding site GoFundMe said it would refund the vast majority of the millions of dollars raised by demonstrators.

Paxton tweeted: "Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers' worthy cause." Texas Senator Ted Cruz said on Fox News that "government doesn't have the right to force you to comply to their arbitrary mandates".

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino shot back: "It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law.

"We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference. ...Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there. We're Canadian. We have our own set of laws. We will follow them."

Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada, said groups in the US need to stop funding and interfering in the domestic affairs of its northern neighbor.

Agencies via Xinhua and Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.