More demonstrators have poured onto the streets of Ottawa and other Canadian cities demanding an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, as protests against pandemic restrictions entered their second week.
In the capital, demonstrators huddled around campfires in bone-chilling temperatures and erected portable saunas and bouncy castles for kids outside Parliament, while waving Canadian flags and shouting anti-government slogans.
Their chants of "freedom" were met with cries of "go home" by a smaller group of counter-protestors fed up with the week-long occupation of the capital.
The atmosphere, however, appeared more festive - with dancing and fireworks - than a week earlier, when several protesters waved Confederate flags and Nazi symbols and clashed with locals.
Demonstrators have pledged their support to the convoy. Source: The Canadian Press
The demonstrations, which started out as protests by truckers angry with vaccine requirements when crossing the US-Canadian border, have morphed into broader protests against COVID health restrictions.
In Toronto, a man was charged with assault after throwing a smoke bomb into a crowd while police in Winnipeg said a driver was arrested for driving his SUV into demonstrators.
Four people were treated for minor injuries, authorities said.
At an emergency meeting late on Saturday, Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly requested "an additional surge of resources" to bring an end to what police board chair Diane Deans described as a "siege" of the capital.
"This group is a threat to our democracy," Ms Deans said. "What we're seeing is bigger than just a city of Ottawa problem, this is a nationwide insurrection. This is madness."
With public anger rising - thousands of residents have complained of harassment by protesters, and an online petition demanding action has drawn 40,000 signatures - Mr Sloly has faced increased pressure to end what he has called an "unlawful" occupation of the city.
Reached for comment by AFP, protest coordinator Jim Torma said the protesters would not back down.
Trucks and supporters in Toronto backed a trucker convoy in Ottawa protesting against COVID-19 restrictions. Source: The Canadian Press
"They're not going to hide us," Mr Torma said. "We're going to be in (politicians') faces as long as it takes" to force an end to public health restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
The Freedom Convoy started on Canada's Pacific coast in late January and picked up supporters along the long trek to the capital - as well as millions of dollars in an online fundraiser that GoFundMe cancelled late on Friday after receiving reports of "violence and unlawful activity."
The number of protesters in Ottawa had peaked last Saturday at several thousand before dwindling to a few hundred by midweek, officials said.
They received support from tech magnate Elon Musk and former US president Donald Trump, who in a statement on Friday called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a "far left lunatic" for imposing "insane COVID mandates."
Mr Trudeau has said the protesters represent only a "fringe minority," though polls show one-third of Canadians support the call to lift all restrictions.
