Watched Canadian police arrest two leaders of protests against Corona measures

Canadian police on Thursday evening arrested two leaders of the anti-Covid-19 protests in the country, after the Canadian government activated emergency law for only the second time in Canadian history to confront a protest of truck drivers.

Canadian police on Thursday evening arrested Tamara Lynch, one of the leaders of the protests against measures to curb Covid-19 in the country, according to the official account of the protest movement, in a tweet on Twitter attached to a video.

Lynch was arrested without resistance. Hours earlier, when police gave an ultimatum to the protesters, Lynch posted a video on social media in which she said her arrest was "now inevitable."

Pictures showed Lynch handcuffed to a police car surrounded by two policemen, telling her comrades: "Hold on."

Prior to that, Chris Barber, one of the leaders of the protest movement, was also arrested in a quiet operation that was filmed and posted on social networks.

For the first time since the beginning of the protest movement, groups of police officers were largely stationed Thursday in the streets of Ottawa, confronting protesters and hundreds of trucks blocking the streets.

Ottawa's acting police chief, Steve Bell, announced at a news conference Thursday that a security move to end the protest of truck drivers who have been besieging the center of the Canadian capital for three weeks was "imminent."

Bell said the authorities "began to tighten the cordon around the protests," including placing security obstacles and restricting access to the city center where truck drivers opposed to the Covid measures congregate.

The protests began with truck drivers refusing the mandatory requirement for a Covid vaccination to cross the US border, but demands grew to include the abolition of all health measures.

The protests cut six border crossings, including a strategic trade route across the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau activated the emergency law that gives the government broad new powers to end the protests, only the second time in Canada's history that this measure has been activated.

In his speech Thursday to the House of Commons, Trudeau considered that protests against health measures in Canada are no longer "peaceful", adding that it was time to "restore confidence in institutions."

"The goal of all measures, including the financial measures stipulated in the emergency law, is to confront the current threat and to control the situation completely," he said.

He stressed that "the barriers and occupations pose a threat to our economy and our relations with our trading partners."

In a letter to provincial heads of government on Wednesday evening, Trudeau said the protest movement "threatens democracy" and damages "Canada's reputation abroad."

Ecuador's parliament votes to legalize abortion for rape victims

After widespread protests in the streets of Ecuador in the recent period launched by pro-abortion and a group of activists in women's organizations, the lawmakers voted, after deep divisions, in favor of a law legalizing abortion in cases of rape.

Ecuador's parliament on Thursday passed a law authorizing abortion for underage girls and women in cases of rape.

75 deputies voted in favor of the law, 41 deputies opposed it, and 14 others abstained.

The law permits minor rape victims to have an abortion until the twelfth week of pregnancy, while for adult women the period is up to the eighteenth week.

The law decriminalizing abortion in cases of rape is expected to be presented to President Guillermo Laso for approval or rejection, within 30 days.

An angry demonstration swept the streets of Ecuador recently, protesting against the abortion law, which allowed women to have an abortion in only two cases, namely if the life of the pregnant woman is in danger or if the pregnancy was the result of rape of a woman with special needs.