![]() ![]() US right-wing media leans into the storyįox News segments on the Canadian protests have risen dramatically from January into February, according to an analysis from left-leaning Media Matters for America, dominating coverage well ahead of the border crossings being blocked. ![]() QAnon has found a new home in the global trucker movement, with some protesters going beyond protesting vaccine mandates to falsely claiming that the entire pandemic has been a hoax and masks are part of human trafficking, and pushing the debunked claim that COVID-19 vaccines are linked with 5G. Some 10,000 Australians have been occupying Exhibition Park in the capital city of Canberra since last week, according to Sky News.īeyond the specific vaccine requirements ostensibly motivating the protest from the beginning, the Ottawa occupation has featured more fringe elements. ![]() In New Zealand and Australia, where governments have enacted far stricter COVID-19 restrictions than those seen in the US or Canada, blockades invoking the Freedom Convoy have copied many of the same blockade tactics. Similar trucker-led protests have already popped up in France, Australia, and New Zealand over the first and second weeks of February, all targeted against government vaccine mandates. More than 7,000 police officers on Saturday launched tear gas into a blockade of trucks and other vehicles blocking the Champs-Élysées in Paris. While truck blockades have been a form of protest in other countries before - notably in India last year when farmers came out in droves against Prime Minister Narendra Modi - there is a distinct mix of anti-vaccine sentiment and other right-wing grievances at the heart of the Freedom Convoy's global appeal.Ī person wears a surgical mask that has been cut out, as truckers and supporters continue to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Canada on February 6, 2022. International expansion among the far-right While the economic and logistical ramifications of the Canadian trucker protest may be beginning to wane as Canadian law enforcement ramps up its response, the geopolitical effects of their movement are still developing. "What would happen if American truck drivers decided they'd had enough of people like Joe Scarborough and went on strike? What would happen then?"Īnd a Department of Homeland Security memo last week warned of potential disruptions to the Super Bowl on Sunday in Los Angeles - which ultimately didn't come to pass - in addition to American copycat versions that could focus on major events, such as President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address on March 1. "Truckers in this country are watching all of this, and you wonder: What do they think about it?," Carlson said in his monologue last Tuesday. On Tuesday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly resigned after coming under criticism from lawmakers for mismanaging the protest. By the time traffic resumed early Monday morning, the stoppage caused by the truckers had racked up a $3 billion pricetag, according to the Windsor Mayor Andrew Dilkens.Ĭanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he will invoke the country's rarely used emergency powers to crack down on the protests. Over the weekend, police officers from multiple Canadian agencies cleared a six-day blockade of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan. Late last week, Ontario's government escalated its assessment of the Freedom Convoy to " an illegal occupation." It started as a protest involving convoys of big rig trucks, but by the time other right-wing groups joined, it expanded to block several US ports of entry. In just over two weeks, the Freedom Convoy of Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates has gone global and begun to encounter its first major interventions from law enforcement. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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