Anti-vaxers use children to block police advance

EFE –  Ottawa-  The anti-vaccine protesters who have been occupying the center of Ottawa, the capital of Canada, for three weeks, put up children as a barrier to prevent the advance of the agents trying to dissolve the concentration, the Police reported  Friday.

In a Twitter message, the body indicated that the anti-vaxers  placed the children between the police operations and the place of the protests, so the agents will transfer the minors “to a safe place.”

The security forces began Friday  morning to break up the protest with a strong deployment of agents in the city center and proceeded to arrest protesters and remove vehicles, some of them trucks, parked in the middle of the street since late from January.

According to the latest police data, so far there have been 15 arrests and 4 vehicles have been removed.

In the face of police pressure, the protesters have already completely abandoned Nicholas Street, and the clash between agents and anti-vaccines is now taking place on Rideau Street.

Police reminded protesters that under federal and provincial law, those who do not immediately leave the scene and remove their vehicles from the street face “severe penalties.”

The House of Commons (which together with the Senate makes up the Canadian Parliament) suspended its session this Friday to avoid possible incidents while the police operation lasts.

The center of Ottawa remains confined by the Police and can only be accessed by passing through one of the checkpoints set by the authorities to prevent more protesters from joining the concentration.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Law last Monday, which gives the government extraordinary powers to end the protests, which had spread to several border crossings with the United States.

The Emergencies Law allows the authorities to seize the protest trucks and prosecute those who travel to the capital to join the blockade.

Anti-vaxers can face fines, lose their driver’s licenses (many of them are truck drivers), and be denied crossing the US border.