Photos: Canada’s Trudeau invokes emergency powers to quell protests

OTTAWA, Canada — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has invoked emergency powers to try to quell the protests by truck drivers and others who have paralyzed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Trudeau ruled out using the military and said Monday that the emergency measures “will be time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address.”

Tyler Armstrong from Hamilton, Ontario, sits in the cab of his truck during a protest by truck drivers over pandemic health rules and the Trudeau government, outside the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa.

(Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images )

For the last two weeks, hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles have clogged the streets of Ottawa, the capital, railing against vaccine mandates and other virus precautions and condemning Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Members of the self-styled Freedom Convoy have also blockaded various U.S.-Canadian border crossings, though the busiest and most important — the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit — was reopened late Sunday after police arrested the last of the demonstrators and broke the nearly weeklong siege that had disrupted auto production in both countries. — Associated Press

A demonstrator sets off fireworks during a protest by truck drivers over pandemic health rules and the Trudeau government, outside the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa.

(Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images)

A person writes a message on a truck during a protest by truck drivers over COVID-19 pandemic health rules in Ottawa, Canada.

(Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images )

A protester records police as they form a ring around demonstrators in Ottawa, Canada.

(Justin Tang / Associated Press)

Truck drivers and others protest COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Ottawa, Canada.

(Ted Shaffrey / Associated Press)

Police gather to clear protesters who blocked the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Canada.

(Jeff Kowalsky / AFP/Getty Images )

Demonstrators cook breakfast during a protest by truck drivers over pandemic health rules in Ottawa, Canada.

(Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images )

A man has a sign posted on his tent indicating that he has refreshments for sale at the protest in Ottawa.

(Amru Salahuddien / Anadolu Agency)