Dozens of pictures, movies and memes on social media exhibiting the Canadian truckers protest have gone viral, together with one which depicts the nation as "Truckistan," as hundreds stay within the capital Ottawa in opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

After a week-long drive throughout Canada, an enormous "Freedom Convoy" of huge rigs arrived in Ottawa over the weekend, inflicting chaos and bringing the entire metropolis to a standstill. Truckers are protesting a vaccine mandate for the trade introduced in by Trudeau. Below the measures, unvaccinated cross-border truckers need to quarantine after they return dwelling.

Regardless of the vast majority of the protests being peaceable, the police stated it had opened a number of investigations into violence and threating conduct across the demonstrations.

A GoFundMe marketing campaign to help the truckers has raised, as of Monday, greater than C$9 million ($7.1 million) from over 112,000 donors.

About 90 p.c of Canada's 120,000 cross-border truckers and 77 p.c of the nation's complete inhabitants have had two COVID-19 vaccination photographs. CBC reported on Saturday that Trudeau and his household left their downtown Ottawa dwelling attributable to safety considerations.

One meme that has been spreading rapidly on-line is a map of North America with "Truckistan" in place as an alternative of "Canada." Amongst sharers of that meme had been Jenna Ellis, former adviser to President Donald Trump, and Jack Posobiec, a number on Human Occasions, a conservative political information website.

Posobiec shared a video of protesters dancing in central Ottawa, which was considered greater than 480,000 instances, receiving greater than 25,300 likes and almost 7,000 retweets.

One other video reveals Ezra Levant, writer of Insurgent Information, a Canadian far-right information outlet, chatting with a crowd of protesters within the nation's capital.

"It's chilly at present; it's chilly at present. Virtually as chilly as Justin Trudeau's coronary heart," Levant stated within the video.

He urged the gang to "preserve talking fact to energy" earlier than declaring that the mainstream media "is a subsidiary of the liberal get together," and that demonstrators ought to file the occasion on their telephones to unfold the message.

"The federal government says you are racist, the federal government says you are sexist, the federal government says you are violent. Within the meantime, I've by no means seen a extra numerous group of Canadians. Justin Trudeau says you are excessive, however he's the one who has violated our civil rights," Levant stated.

"The purpose is the convoy itself to indicate that you just're not alone, to indicate that you just're not the loopy one they're, to indicate that you just're not the un-Canadian one, they're. You might have already achieved your purpose simply by being right here and the truth that tens of millions of dollars got here into the GoFundMe for the truckers, even when they'd have canceled that, it was nonetheless a hit as a result of it was a measurement of how a lot individuals cared. You might have succeeded simply by being right here."

The video was considered over 917,000 instances, garnering greater than 30,400 likes and over 9,300 retweets.

A video shared on Twitter by populist information website Election Wizard reveals a whole lot of truckers driving in direction of Ottawa within the snow with the nation's nationwide anthem, "O Canada," being performed within the background. It acquired over 850,000 views and greater than 23,300 likes.

One other submit by Levant, which acquired greater than 1,400 retweets and over 2,800 likes, reveals a big police presence exterior Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the place hundreds of protesters gathered.

Police in Ottawa have began investigations into a number of incidents referring to the protests, together with the looks of Nazi swastika flags and pictures of a lady dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Among the investigations are referring to expenses of a violent nature, Ottawa Police stated in a Twitter submit.

"A number of prison investigations are underway in relation to the desecration of the Nationwide Struggle Memorial/Terry Fox statue, threatening/unlawful/intimidating behaviour to police/metropolis staff and different people and harm to a metropolis automobile," the submit stated.

"Unlawful conduct is not going to be tolerated and will likely be totally investigated. We have now investigative and evidence-gathering groups in place to help the administration of the demonstration."

The Canadian protection minister condemned the incidents as "past reprehensible."

Canadian truckers protest
Supporters of the Freedom Convoy protest Covid-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions in entrance of Parliament on January 29, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada. Dozens of movies on social media exhibiting the Canadian truckers protest have gone viral, as hundreds stay within the capital Ottawa to protest President Justin Trudeau’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.Lars Hagberg/Getty