Ottawa declares state of emergency over COVID-19 protests
The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former US ambassador to Canada said groups in the US must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbor as protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa’s downtown.
Mayor Jim Watson said the declaration highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government. It gives the city some additional powers around procurement and how it delivers services, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders.
Thousands of protesters descended in Ottawa again on the weekend, joining a hundred who remained since last weekend. Residents of Ottawa are furious at the nonstop blaring of horns, traffic disruption and harassment and fear no end is in sight after the police chief called it a “siege” that he could not manage.
The “freedom truck convoy” has attracted support from many U.S. Republicans including former President Donald Trump, who called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”
“Canada US relations used to be mainly about solving technical issues. Today Canada is unfortunately experiencing radical US politicians involving themselves in Canadian domestic issues. Trump and his followers are a threat not just to the US but to all democracies,” Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador under President Barack Obama, tweeted.
Heyman said “under no circumstances should any group in the USA fund disruptive activities in Canada. Period. Full stop.”
After crowdfunding site GoFundMe said it would refund or redirect to charities the vast majority of the millions raised by demonstrators protesting in the Canadian capital, prominent U.S. Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis complained.
But GoFundMe had already changed its mind and said it would be issuing refunds to all. The site said it cut off funding for the organizers because it had determined the effort violated the site’s terms of service due to unlawful activity.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has called it an occupation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxon tweeted: “Patriotic Texans donated to Canadian truckers’ worthy cause.” and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on Fox News “government doesn’t have the right to force you to comply to their arbitrary mandates.”
“For some senior American politicians, patriotism means renting a mob to put a G-7 capital under siege,” tweeted Gerald Butts, a former senior adviser to Trudeau.
In Canada’s largest city, Toronto, police controlled and later ended a much smaller protest by setting up road blocks and preventing any trucks or cars from getting near the provincial legislature. Police also moved in to clear a key intersection in the city.
Many Canadians have been outraged over the crude behavior of the demonstrators. Some protesters set fireworks off on the grounds of the National War Memorial late Friday. A number have carried signs and flags with swastikas last weekend and compared vaccine mandates to fascism.
Protesters have said they won’t leave until all mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are gone. They are also calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, though it is responsible for few of the measures, most of which were put in place by provincial governments.
Mother, daughter killed as tractor hits bike in Parsa
A woman and her daughter died after a tractor hit a bike they were riding on at Bhawanipur in Jirabhawani Rural Municipality-4, Parsa on Sunday.
The deceased have been identified as Bidhyadevi Tharuni (27) and her three-year-old daughter Ananya Kumari.
The tractor (Na 4 Ta 8136) hit the bike (Ba 55 Pa 6528) yesterday.
Incapacitated in the incident, Bidhyadevi breathed her last during the course of treatment at the Nation Medical College in Birgunj, police said.
Bike rider Anil Mahato sustained minor injuries in the incident.
SP Ramesh Basnet of the District Police Office, Parsa said that they have impounded the tractor and arrested its driver for investigation.
Odd-even rule enforced on private vehicles, taxis lifted
The government has lifted odd-even rule enforced on all private vehicles and taxis in Kathmandu Valley from Sunday midnight.
A meeting of the Chief District Officers of three districts of the Kathmandu Valley held on Sunday lifted the odd-even vehicle system enforced by the meeting of the COVID-19 Crisis Management Coordination Centre to curb the spread of Covid-19.
With the increase of coronavirus cases in the country, an odd-even vehicle rationing system was enforced on public and private vehicles in Kathmandu Valley to be effective from January 22. However, the odd-even vehicle system imposed on public vehicles was removed last week.
Similarly, the meeting of three Chief District Officers of Kathmandu Valley took the decision that physical classes could be run from February 13. However, the schools have been asked to run regular physical classes by following health safety protocols in case of students above 12 years and to arrange alternative classes in case of students below 12 years.
Likewise, a decision was taken to allow them to operate night businesses like dance bar, clubs till 10 pm from February 13. The meeting, however, has restricted all types of rally, gatherings, and festivals. RSS
3 killed, 2 injured as car hits parked truck in Butwal
Three persons died and two others were injured when a car hit a parked truck in Butwal of Rupandehi on Monday.
Inspector Jeevan Lamichhane of the Area Police Office, Ranyoura said that the car (Lu 3 Cha 4442) hit the parked truck (Lu 2 Kha 9772) in Tamnagar, Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City-12 this morning.
Police identified the deceased as Sabin Chaudhary (29), Govinda Chaudhary (27) and Nabin Shrestha (27) of Butwal-13.
Bhagirath Chaudhary of Butwal-13 and Anish GC of Butwal-12 sustained critical injuries in the incident.
Police said that they are undergoing treatment at the Lumbini Provincial Hospital in Butwal.
Police said that the truck driver fled the scene after the incident.
