OTTAWA, Ontario — Hugs under the falling snow, dancing in the street, people warming themselves around fires.
For more than three weeks, semitrucks, cars and pickups sat idle along streets in downtown Ottawa, as hundreds of truckers and other protesters parked side by side and bumper to bumper to oppose vaccine mandates and other COVID restrictions.
Some protesters settled into the locked cabs of their trucks or set up tents, while others warmed themselves around small fires as snow fell.
Late Thursday and into Friday, police moved to break up the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” which also had included blockades at border crossings with the U.S., with economic implications for both countries, and had the support of right-wing activists and some prominent U.S.