Protesters Rally in Ottawa to Demand End to Canada’s Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates

The protesters, organized by a group of truck drivers from across the country, have vowed to remain in central Ottawa until Mr. Trudeau abandons restrictions. The main organizers, a group called Freedom Convoy 2022, said Mr. Trudeau and his Liberal government crossed a line by imposing this month a vaccine mandate on Canadian truckers who ferry goods across the U.S.-Canada border.

On Saturday, the main east-west street in front of the federal Canadian legislature was clogged with heavy-duty trucks. Drivers in their parked trucks blared air horns while protesters marched about, carrying signs saying, “F— Trudeau,” “End the Mandates” and “Covid Doesn’t Scare Me, Global Tyranny Does, Eh!” Some people carried around poster-sized replicas of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the equivalent of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Crowds wandered about downtown Ottawa despite temperatures Saturday afternoon that ranged from zero to 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I came for freedom of choice,” said Bogdan Dulhariu, who has worked as a truck driver for the past 17 years, based in Montreal. He said he is fully vaccinated but nonetheless angry with the rules imposed by the Canadian and regional governments to contain the spread of Covid-19. “You can’t stop people from working and taking care of their family and everything just because of vaccines and stuff.”

Protesters gathered as well in front of the building housing the office of the prime minister and his aides. A spokesman for Mr. Trudeau said the prime minister was working remotely in the Ottawa region, without elaborating on his whereabouts.

Mr. Trudeau this week described the protesters expected to arrive in Ottawa as a “small fringe minority of people” who hold “unacceptable views that do not represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other” during the pandemic.

Truckers and their supporters in western Canada organized the weekend protest after the Liberal government said that, effective Jan. 15, U.S. and other foreign truckers are banned from entering Canada unless they are fully vaccinated. Canada will require unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers to show a negative, molecular Covid-19 test taken 72 hours prior to reaching the border before they are allowed entry, and then they are required to quarantine afterward for a 14-day period.

The U.S. introduced its own ban on unvaccinated Canadian truckers on Jan. 22.

“This is a family event, we will be peaceful and we will not instigate anything,” Tamara Lich, one of the chief organizers of the group Freedom Convoy 2022, said Saturday in a video posted to the group’s Facebook account. “We are all prepared to stay here as long as it takes. We stand together to take back our freedoms.”

Ottawa police didn’t provide an estimate for the crowd. A police spokeswoman said it was similar in size to previous, pre-pandemic festivities related to the country’s national holiday, Canada Day, which tended to draw tens of thousands to the parliamentary grounds for speeches, music and related events.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance, a lobby group for the sector, has expressed concern about the vaccine mandate targeting truckers, arguing it could further disrupt an already frail logistics network. On Saturday, the alliance issued a statement arguing the majority of protesters in Ottawa have no ties to the trucking industry and are there to pursue their own agenda.

“As these protests unfold over the weekend, we ask the Canadian public to be aware that many of the people you see and hear in media reports do not have a connection to the trucking industry,” the group said.

Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly warned Friday there was a risk posed by “parallel demonstrations and/or the lone-wolf individuals who may insert themselves into the mix for various reasons.” Chief Sloly added the protest organizers had not indicated when they planned to end their event, and would be concerned if they had not left by Monday morning.

To date, Ottawa police have reported no serious incidents. Police have redirected traffic away from the downtown core.

Elon Musk,

chief executive of

Tesla Inc.,

voiced his support for the protest through his official Twitter account. “Canadian truckers rule,” Mr. Musk said in a tweet, following that up with: “CB radios are free from govt/media control.”

Mr. Trudeau and officials have repeatedly declined calls to repeal the rules on unvaccinated truckers or other vaccine rules, such as a requirement that tourists from the U.S. and elsewhere be fully vaccinated before entry. Canada has also banned the unvaccinated from traveling by air or long-haul passenger rail. Regional governments in Canada have also imposed rules requiring restaurants and gyms to forbid entry to those not fully vaccinated.

Polling from Vancouver-based Angus Reid Institute indicates a majority of Canadians support vaccine mandates and rules restricting the unvaccinated from entering certain public settings.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com