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OTTAWA (ANTARA) – Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency on Sunday (6/2) to address nine days of protests that have disrupted the center of the Canadian capital.

The statement “reflects the serious dangers and threats to the safety and security of citizens posed by the ongoing protests and highlights the need for support from multiple levels of government and other jurisdictions,” it reads in a press release released by the city.

Peter Sloly, chief of the Ottawa Police Service, told a special meeting of the police board on Saturday that his force “does not have sufficient resources to adequately and effectively manage this situation, while providing police services. adequate and effective policing in the city at this time. the same time.”

Watson said thousands of protesters “began commandeering” and sent the situation “out of control,” with lines of trucks blocking residential streets and continuing to honk their horns well into the evening.

“There are far more of them than we have police officers and I indicated to the police chief that we need to be much more agile and proactive in the face of this type of activity,” the mayor told a radio station from Ottawa.

On Saturday, approximately 5,000 people and 1,000 tractor-trailers and private vehicles gathered in downtown Ottawa to participate in a second week of rallies, initially intended to oppose the Canadian government's vaccination mandate for truckers crossing the Canada-US border.

Last week, the rallies turned into occupations, and this weekend, Sloly described it as a “siege,” while a city council member called it an act of “terrorism,” to following reports of protesters engaging in attacks and vandalism.

Police made several arrests and issued more than 450 tickets. However, Ottawa residents are calling for stronger action and calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act.

So far, a major demand he has rejected is the deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces to disperse crowds and their vehicles.