Canada Police reclaim Ottawa after trucker siege ends

The last big rigs were towed Sunday out of Canada's capital, where the streets were quiet for the first time in almost a month after a massive police operation ended a drawn-out siege by protesters opposing Covid health rules. A major cleanup was underway in Ottawa's snowy downtown, where police in riot gear had faced off with trucker-led demonstrators for two full days, finally driving them out of their protest hub outside parliament.

"I'm very happy to have my city back," Jeff Lindley, who lives and works downtown, told AFP. "It's so much better today, calmer and quieter without the ominous presence of all the trucks and protesters." A few protesters stayed late into Saturday night, singing '80s protest anthems and setting off fireworks outside a hastily erected four-meter-high (13-foot) security fence surrounding the parliamentary precinct. But the last gasp protest-turned-street-party fizzled as a deep freeze gripped the citty. 

Ottawa police issued a reminder that the core area remains off-limits except to local residents and workers. Police tweeted midmorning that two people had just been arrested -- for a total of 191, including protest leaders, since police moved in on Friday.They said 57 vehicles had so far been towed out of the city center -- paralyzed since January 29 when hundreds of trucks, RVs and other vehicles parked there in protest. For the first time in weeks, Ottawa residents were not awakened by the incessant honking that had become a staple of the protests.