Police make arrests, truckers hold ground in Ottawa

Hundreds of truckers clogging the streets of Canada’s capital stood their ground and defiantly blasted their horns Thursday as police poured in, threatening to break up the nearly three-week protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Bus loads of police arrived near Ottawa's Parliament Hill, and workers put up extra fences around government buildings. Police also essentially began sealing off much of the downtown area to outsiders to prevent them from coming to the aid of the protesters.

Police made at least three arrests just before nightfall Thursday around Parliament Hill, but officers were not moving in force on the demonstrators.  Ottawa represented the movement’s last stronghold after weeks of demonstrations and blockades that shut down border crossings into the U.S., inflicted economic damage on both countries and created a political crisis for Trudeau.