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Police have clashed with demonstrators in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, as they move to end a three-week anti-vaccine mandate protest, with 100 arrests made.
The operation started early on Friday, with some officers on horseback, after the government invoked the Emergencies Act to crack down on the protest.
Some protesters who resisted were thrown to the ground and had their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Police have also accused protesters of using children as a shield.
A group of protesters have remained in the city in defiance of orders to leave. Footage from the scene showed hundreds of police officers advancing into the heart of the protest zone, next to Parliament Hill.
Some of the remaining protesters formed a line in front of approaching officers, linking arms and singing O Canada – the national anthem.
“Freedom was never free,” protester Kevin Homaund told the Associated Press. “So what if they put the handcuffs on us and they put us in jail?”
Ottawa police have set up almost 100 police check-points around the main protest site as well as a large business and residential district in the city centre to prevent more protesters from entering the area.
“DEMONSTRATORS: You must leave,” Ottawa police wrote on Twitter. “Anyone within the unlawful protest site may be arrested.”
Police have also towed 21 vehicles as part of the operation. No protesters were injured during the operation and those arrested face various charges including mischief, Ottawa’s interim police chief Steve Bell said.
He would not say how many protesters remain at the site of the demonstration or how long the police operation is expected to take.
“We will work day and night until this is completed,” he said.
BBC