Even as protests
against pandemic curbs continue to rock Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has
ruled out a “military solution”. “That is not on the cards right now,” Trudeau,
who had to be moved to a safe location along with his family after the Canadian capital came under the siege of protesting truckers, said at a media conference
on Thursday.

Justin Trudeau’s
remarks about not calling in the military came after Ottawa police chief Peter
Sloly said, “I am increasingly concerned that there’s no policing solution to
this. We’re considering every option, including military aid to civil power.”

Questioned on the
Ottawa police chief’s remarks, Trudeau said governments must be “very, very
cautious before deploying the military in situations against Canadians.”

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Protestors, mostly
truckers who drive between Canada and the United States, had laid siege to the
national capital Saturday opposing the vaccine mandate imposed on people
travelling between the two countries.

The protests
reached their peak when the Canadian prime minister had to be moved to an
undisclosed, safe location. The agitations have caused supply-chain bottlenecks
to develop across the region which have sparked concern in businesses. Trudeau,
50, has called upon the protestors to go back home adding that the locals had
had enough of disruptions.

It all began in
November 2021, when the Canadian government announced that cross-border
essential workers would be required to produce evidence of vaccination while
moving between borders. The rule came into force on January 15. The mandate
required unvaccinated Canadian workers to undergo COVID tests and be in
self-quarantine for two weeks. The United States government has also imposed
similar curbs.

While nearly 90%
truckers were already vaccinated at the time of the new rules coming into
force, a section, primarily led by anti-vaxxers, initiated a stir that
continued to blow up. On January 29, trucks by the hundreds descended on the
capital. Initially peaceful, things turned awry when reports came of protestors
urinating on the National War Memorial and flying Confederate and Nazi flags.