A video posted by an Ottawa lawyer of truckers continuously honking to protest the Canadian government's health measures and vaccine mandates has gone viral.
"Is this a peaceful protest? What if you lived here, and this was going on from early in the morning until late at night, how would you feel? #Ottawa," Ottawa lawyer Paul Champ wrote on Twitter on February 5.
The 57-second clip has so far amassed more than 1.2 million views online, and can be seen here.
Is this a peaceful protest? What if you lived here, and this was going on from early in the morning until late at night, how would you feel? #Ottawa pic.twitter.com/oIhVKCYjur
— Paul Champ (@PaulChampLaw) February 5, 2022
It shows the lawyer opening a sliding door that opens onto a balcony, and panning his camera down onto the street below. The video shows trucks bumper to bumper, honking continuously for the duration of the recording.
In a separate post on Sunday, Champ said: "The Convoy Truckers are at serious risk of losing their trucks. Damages for 'private nuisance' to 5K to 8K people will run into the MILLIONS at $100 to $200 per day, per Class member."
The trucker protests, which entered an eleventh day on Monday, have largely shut down Canada's capital. The "Freedom Convoy" is mostly made up of truckers, and started out as a protest against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for drivers crossing the U.S.-Canadian border.
Truckers and protesters arrived in Ottawa on January 29, parking their vehicles on city roads and setting up tents and shacks. Protesters say they will continue to stay put in the city until the COVID-19 restrictions are reversed.
The mayor of Ottawa on Sunday declared a state of emergency in response to the occupation that has all but paralyzed the capital.
The state of emergency "reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations," the city's mayor Jim Watson said.
Watson had described the situation as "completely out of control" earlier on Sunday.
The mayor, in an interview with CTV on Sunday, warned that "someone is going to get killed" by the truckers' protest.
"We're in the midst of a serious emergency. The most serious emergency our city has ever faced, and we need to get moving much more quickly, much more proactively, to bring order back to the streets," Watson said.
The mayor continued: "Someone is going to get killed or seriously injured because of the irresponsible behavior of some of these people who are honking their horns and destroying the fabric of neighborhood. Imagine living through that hell, time and time again, for 10 days."
He noted that local police were going to take "a more aggressive stand" moving forward.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ruled out using the military against the truckers.
