Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has activated rarely used emergency powers in an effort to end protests that have shut some border crossings and paralysed parts of the capital Ottawa.
The Freedom Convoy protests, started by Canadian truckers opposing a COVID-19 vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, have drawn people opposed to Mr Trudeau's policies on everything from pandemic restrictions to a carbon tax.
"The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety," Mr Trudeau told a news conference on Monday.
"We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue."
Serious challenges
Frustration has grown with what critics see as a permissive approach by police to the demonstrations in the border city of Windsor, Ontario, and Ottawa where protests entered a third week.
"Despite their best efforts, it is now clear that there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law," Mr Trudeau said.
The 1988 Emergencies Act allows the federal government to override the provinces and authorise special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies.
The law has only been used once before in peacetime, in 1970, by Mr Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Earlier on Monday, four provincial premiers - in Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan - said they opposed plans to invoke the act, saying it was unnecessary.
Protesters against COVID-19 vaccine mandates are seen in Ottawa, Canada on 13 February, 2022. Source: Getty Images
The Canadian Parliament would have to approve the use of the emergency measures within seven days, and it also has the power to revoke them.
Meanwhile, hundreds of big rigs still clog the streets of the capital Ottawa.
The threat of violence lingered, as federal police said they arrested 11 protesters with rifles, handguns, body armour and ammunition at the border between Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana, just a day after another key US-Canada border crossing was cleared.
"The group was said to have a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Ontario, meanwhile, has announced the lifting of vaccine passport requirements.
The truckers and their supporters are pushing back against mandatory vaccines and a wider anti-establishment agenda that has triggered copycat movements in France and the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, with some United States truckers mulling a protest for March.
The truckers have found support among conservatives and vaccine mandate opponents across the globe, even as COVID-19 measures are being rolled back in many places.
Vehicles block a road during a protest by truck drivers over pandemic health rules and the Trudeau government, outside the parliament of Canada in Ottawa. Source: AFP
In Paris at the weekend, police fired tear gas and issued hundreds of fines in an effort to break up convoys coming from across France.
The Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria have also seen copycat movements, and Belgian authorities said Monday they had intercepted 30 vehicles as police scrambled to stop a convoy of trucks.
Canadian police over the weekend cleared a blockade on the Ambassador Bridge, which handles an estimated 25 per cent of trade with the United States, and had disrupted business in the world's largest economy.
