Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) became the latest hard-right politician to back a mob of anti-vaccine Canadian truckers occupying downtown Ottawa, which has declared a state of emergency over the strong-arm protest.
God bless these Canadian truck drivers , Cruz crowed in a tweet Sunday.
Theyre defending Canada, America, and theyre standing up for freedom! The government doesnt have the right to force you to comply to their arbitrary mandates.
Cruz on Saturday clashed with Vancouvers mayor, who told the rogue truckers to stay away. Cruz suggested in a tweet that the city might learn a lesson with hunger as market shelves emptied without the drivers.
But Mayor Kennedy Stewart fired back that 90% of Canadas truck drivers are vaccinated and no ones worried about the absent protesters.
Can someone tell @tedcruz our store shelves are fine thanks to the 90% of Canadian truckers who are fully vaccinated.
Too busy high-fiving all the awesome folks in #Vancouver that are helping push back against the #hateconvoy.#vanpoli #covid19 https://t.co/kA7jInwODF
Can someone tell @tedcruz our store shelves are fine thanks to the 90% of Canadian truckers who are fully vaccinated.
Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart) February 6, 2022
Too busy high-fiving all the awesome folks in #Vancouver that are helping push back against the #hateconvoy .#vanpoli #covid19 https://t.co/kA7jInwODF
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The truckers in what they call the Freedom Convoy have been protesting for 10 days in Ottawa against the requirement that they be vaccinated before they can drive across the border into the U.S.
City officials, fearing violence from the rowdy protesters, on Sunday declared a state of emergency.
Were in the midst of a serious emergency, the most serious emergency our city has ever faced, the mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, said in an interview.
Someone is going to get killed or seriously injured because of the irresponsible behavior of some of these people, he mayor warned.
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The truckers convoy was hit Friday with a $9.8 million class-action complaint on behalf of Ottawa citizens for relentlessly blasting their air horns for up to 16 hours a day while jamming streets. They have also been accused of harassing area residents and shoppers, even assaulting some , and ripping masks off residents faces.
Is this a peaceful protest? What if you lived here, and this was going on from early in the morning until late at night, how would you feel? #Ottawa pic.twitter.com/oIhVKCYjur
Paul Champ (@PaulChampLaw) February 5, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Paul Champ","author_url":"https://twitter.com/PaulChampLaw","cache_age":86400,"description":"Is this a peaceful protest? 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News","slug":"us-news"},"topic":{"title":"Vaccine","slug":"vaccine","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/vaccine"},{"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/canada","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/canada","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/canada"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"World News","slug":"world-news"},"topic":{"title":"Canada","slug":"canada","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/canada"},{"name":"protest","slug":"protest","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/protest","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/protest","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},{"name":"truckers","slug":"truckers","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/truckers","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">Is this a peaceful protest? What if you lived here, and this was going on from early in the morning until late at night, how would you feel? #Ottawa pic.twitter.com/oIhVKCYjur
Paul Champ (@PaulChampLaw) February 5, 2022
We are closing early tonight (Friday) at 6:30pm and staying closed over the weekend until Wednesday Feb 9th. One of our staff was physically assaulted on their way to work today, blocked on the sidewalk by two men and shoved to the ground for wearing a mask.
Moo Shu Ice Cream (@MooShuIceCream) February 4, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Moo Shu Ice Cream","author_url":"https://twitter.com/MooShuIceCream","cache_age":86400,"description":"We are closing early tonight (Friday) at 6:30pm and staying closed over the weekend until Wednesday Feb 9th. One of our staff was physically assaulted on their way to work today, blocked on the sidewalk by two men and shoved to the ground for wearing a mask. Moo Shu Ice Cream (@MooShuIceCream) February 4, 2022\n\n","options":{"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Moo Shu Ice Cream on 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News","slug":"us-news"},"topic":{"title":"Vaccine","slug":"vaccine","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/vaccine"},{"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/canada","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/canada","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/canada"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"World News","slug":"world-news"},"topic":{"title":"Canada","slug":"canada","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/canada"},{"name":"protest","slug":"protest","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/protest","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/protest","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},{"name":"truckers","slug":"truckers","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/truckers","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">We are closing early tonight (Friday) at 6:30pm and staying closed over the weekend until Wednesday Feb 9th. One of our staff was physically assaulted on their way to work today, blocked on the sidewalk by two men and shoved to the ground for wearing a mask.
Moo Shu Ice Cream (@MooShuIceCream) February 4, 2022
Ottawas premier complained that the protest morphed days ago into an unacceptable occupation.
This is a siege . It is something that is different in our democracy than Ive ever experienced in my life, Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said.
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Similar protests are beginning to spread to Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec City and other provincial capitals.
After police expressed concerns, GoFundMe on Friday shut down an online fundraising campaign and blocked close to $10 million money raised for the convoy because of unlawful activities, it said in a statement.
We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity, the statement added.
We want to thank @gofundme for listening to our concerns as a City and a police service. The decision to withhold funding for these unlawful demonstrations is an important step and we call on all crowdfunding sites to follow.
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Cruz","slug":"ted-cruz","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/ted-cruz","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/ted-cruz","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/ted-cruz"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Ted Cruz","slug":"ted-cruz","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/ted-cruz"},{"name":"Vaccine","slug":"vaccine","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/vaccine","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/vaccine","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/vaccine"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"U.S. News","slug":"us-news"},"topic":{"title":"Vaccine","slug":"vaccine","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/vaccine"},{"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/canada","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/canada","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/canada"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"World News","slug":"world-news"},"topic":{"title":"Canada","slug":"canada","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/canada"},{"name":"protest","slug":"protest","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/protest","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/protest","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},{"name":"truckers","slug":"truckers","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/truckers","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">We want to thank @gofundme for listening to our concerns as a City and a police service. The decision to withhold funding for these unlawful demonstrations is an important step and we call on all crowdfunding sites to follow.
Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 5, 2022
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Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday announced on Twitter he was launching an investigation and accused GoFundMe of fraud for commandeering the money raised for the truckers. He insisted the money should be refunded.
Though GoFundMe initially said it would refund the money or redirect it to charities, it announced hours before DeSantis tweet that it would automatically be refunding all donations .
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also complained about GoFundMes action on Twitter , and Elon Musk gushed : Canadian truckers rule.
Donald Trump Jr. called via a tweet on Friday for all Republican attorneys general in the U.S. to investigate .
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Attorneys general Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia and Ken Paxton of Texas all indicated theyre launching investigations into GoFundMe on behalf of the truckers.
Paxton boasted that patriotic Texans donated to the Canadian Truckers worthy cause.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance, the main advocacy organization for the nations truckers, and the Ontario Trucking Association have disavowed the protest , the Ottawa Citizen reported. The Trucking Alliance said the vast majority of its members are fully vaccinated and are continuing to work.
University of Ottawa associate criminology professor Michael Kempa said in a CBC-TV interview Sunday that the movement is fundamentally organized and funded by those with an autocratic political agenda, including American interests, and aimed at undermining Canadian rule of law and democracy.
Theyre people interested in undoing the conventional state system, and replacing the Canadian democratic model with something that is much more grassroots authoritarian and far-right conservative, Kempa said.
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Generally, they are outside, and intent on dismantling, the political mainstream. Theyre not interested in the ... liberal system we have here in Canada.
Kempa said Canadians were taken aback by the truckers behavior and suggested the military should reestablish order.
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The organizers of #OttawaOccupation hide their agenda for destructive politics behind honourable #truckers +vaccine mandate misdirection. Canada will not be fooled: I challenge you to present your ideas through democratic channels #cdnpoli #onpoli https://t.co/dxF8DjCU2J
Michael Kempa (@MichaelKempa1) February 6, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Michael Kempa","author_url":"https://twitter.com/MichaelKempa1","cache_age":86400,"description":"The organizers of #OttawaOccupation hide their agenda for destructive politics behind honourable #truckers +vaccine mandate misdirection. 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News","slug":"us-news"},"topic":{"title":"Vaccine","slug":"vaccine","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/vaccine"},{"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/canada","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/canada","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/canada"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"World News","slug":"world-news"},"topic":{"title":"Canada","slug":"canada","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/canada"},{"name":"protest","slug":"protest","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/protest","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/protest","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/protest"},{"name":"truckers","slug":"truckers","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/truckers","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/truckers"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n","\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">The organizers of #OttawaOccupation hide their agenda for destructive politics behind honourable #truckers +vaccine mandate misdirection. Canada will not be fooled: I challenge you to present your ideas through democratic channels #cdnpoli #onpoli https://t.co/dxF8DjCU2J
Michael Kempa (@MichaelKempa1) February 6, 2022
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