Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean on Monday granted a 10-day injunction which will disallow honking of horns by protesting truckers who are a part of the Freedom Convoy.
“People have a right to protest various things in various ways. Tooting a horn is not an expression of any great thought. The only purpose of this (horn blowing) is to bring attention to this protest. There’s no need for that anymore. The public is fully aware of what’s going on,” McLean was quoted as saying by news agency Ottawa Sun.
The case against the truckers was filed by 21-year-old downtown resident, Zexi Li, who said that after measuring the sound in her room she found that it was above 80 decibels. Her lawyer Paul Champ pointed out that after Li’s name was made public she faced vile abuses on social media from unidentified miscreants who supported the protests.
Several Ottawans have cited their displeasure at the protests claiming that it is causing trouble in conducting businesses and leading to shutting down of malls and restaurants.
The Freedom Convoy protests have been going on for the last 11 days as truckers demand that Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau repeal the vaccine mandate which require truck drivers coming in from the US be fully vaccinated or stay in 14-day quarantine.
Protesters claim that living with vaccine mandates is like living in one big prison. The protest has also evolved into a protest denouncing all Covid-19 rules and regulations imposed by the Canadian government. The protests have largely been peaceful.
However, the unfurling of Nazi and Confederate flags and complains of racist slurs being hurled against Ottawans and migrant communities living in Ottawa by some protesters have led to condemnation. Several Canadians, according to a report by the BBC, have disavowed the protests saying that they do not identify with them.
Ottawa top cop Peter Sloly on Monday said that 1,800 police personnel and civilians are needed to control the protesters, hours after Ottawa mayor Jim Watson declared an emergency. Sloly further added that his workforce is unable to handle the job alone. He told the city council that they need to help his police force to do everything in power to take back the streets from these ‘criminals’.
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