Timeline of the Canada convoy protest

rdf:langString Timeline of the Canada convoy protest

rdf:langString The following article is a broad timeline of the course of events surrounding the Canada convoy protest, a series of protests and blockades in Canada in early 2022. The protest, which was called the Freedom Convoy (French: Convoi de la liberté) by organizers, was "first aimed at a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers" when the convoy of hundreds of vehicles, including semi-trailers, headed towards Ottawa, Ontario the nation's capital, starting on January 22. The protesters quickly changed their messaging to include demands that all COVID-19-related public health restrictions be lifted. By late January and early February, the professional trucking industry and labour groups, such as Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), Teamsters Canada, Canadian Labour Congress, had published statements distancing their members from the convoy protest. By January 29, when the convoy converged in what became known as the red zone in Ottawa, there were estimates of from 8,000 to 18,000 pedestrian protesters at its peak on the first weekend and hundreds of vehicles, including 18-wheelers that were parked directly on Wellington Street, in front of the Prime Minister's office. In spite of an injunction by a judge and the invocation of three levels of states of emergency, municipal, provincial, and federal, protesters temporarily refused to end blockades and the occupation of the red zone. On February 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. Over the weekend of February 17 to 20, a large joint-operation police presence in Ottawa arrested about 200 organizers and protesters, laid 389 charges, issued fines, removed the heavy trucks and trailers with 79 vehicles towed away, seized 36 license plates, and dismantled encampments across the city. Action was taken against thirty-six commercial vehicles by the Ministry of Transportation. By February 20, the area surrounding the Parliamentary Precinct, occupied by protesters for three weeks, was fenced off by police after it has been secured by a series of police advances pushing the crowd away from Parliament Hill. A heavy police presence remained.