China News Agency, Toronto, February 19 (Reporter Yu Ruidong) In the center of Ottawa, the capital of Canada, demonstrators who were conducting demonstrations and occupation activities continued to face off with the police who were carrying out the clearance task on February 19.

The police have expelled the demonstrators directly in front of Capitol Hill.

　　The police arrested dozens of people during their law enforcement operations. Although there were physical collisions with demonstrators, the police generally exercised restraint.

The demonstration group Freedom Motorsports issued a statement saying that the truck drivers had been asked to drive away from the Capitol Hill area, but it would take time to evacuate.

　　Nearly 50 more protesters were arrested that day, according to an afternoon police update.

Since the police concentrated their enforcement actions on the 18th, more than 170 people have been arrested, and more than 50 vehicles involved in the blockade of the demonstration have been towed away.

　　Live television footage showed riot police marching slowly in formations at some intersections and streets around Capitol Hill, further compressing the space occupied by demonstrators.

Some demonstrators unleashed smoke, while police officers used pepper spray and batons.

During the standoff, both demonstrators and police videotaped each other.

A large number of law enforcement live videos also appeared on social networking platforms.

　　Demonstrators at the scene insisted that the Canadian government was breaking the law, not the protests.

Some media reporters were harassed and attacked by emotional demonstrators while reporting on the scene.

　　In the evening, the police said that in view of the demonstrators using weapons to attack the police, the police have increased the deployment of force.

　　Ottawa Police Interim Chief Bell admitted that the police still need more time to achieve the goal of letting all the demonstrators leave.

Police also accused demonstrators of putting children at risk by taking children to law enforcement areas.

　　Several of the leaders of the protest group "Freedom Motorcade" have been arrested and appear in court.

Two of them have agreed to withdraw from the protest and pay bail.

　　Police designated a "safe zone" in central Ottawa two days ago and set up about 100 checkpoints to prevent new protesters from entering.

　　In British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, the central provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the eastern province of Quebec, demonstrators held rallies to protest, or tried to block Canada-US border crossings.

　　Canadian Public Safety Minister Mendicino said at least 76 financial accounts suspected of financing the demonstrations have been frozen since the public order emergency was activated, involving an amount of about 3.2 million Canadian dollars.

　　Due to the ongoing demonstrations and blockades, many businesses in downtown Ottawa are operating normally. The federal government announced on the 19th that it will spend 20 million Canadian dollars to provide free assistance to Ottawa businesses that have suffered losses.

Small businesses can apply for up to $10,000 in assistance.

　　The Canadian government will implement new regulations on January 15, requiring cross-border truck drivers and others to produce a new crown vaccination certificate when entering Canada.

The United States implemented a similar request a week later.

That means about 10,000 Canadian cross-border drivers who are under-vaccinated will struggle to get on the road.

As a result, truck drivers and other groups formed the so-called "freedom convoy" to enter Ottawa at the end of January to carry out large-scale continuous demonstrations and "occupation".

The protest demands quickly turned into opposition to various public epidemic prevention measures.

Protests and blockades once spread to many cities in Canada and some highway ports on the Canada-US border, and even caused some other countries to follow suit.

The Canadian government first used the Emergency Act to declare a public order emergency on February 14, with a view to ending the demonstrations and occupation activities as soon as possible.

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