The Canadian government, armed with new emergency powers, is promising quick action to clear a three-week-old truckers’ blockade that has brought the centre of the capital Ottawa to a standstill.

Police allowed hundreds of trucks to park in the riverside core of the city and then did little to prevent thousands of largely peaceful protesters taking over Parliament Hill.

Police chief Peter Sloly quit on Tuesday after criticism that he did not do enough to stop protests that began as truckers objecting to cross-border Covid-19 vaccine mandates for rigs but has become more of an anti-government movement also directed at Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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