Republican congresswoman Yvette Herrell has announced she will be putting forth a bill to provide political asylum to “innocent Canadian protestors who are being persecuted by their own government.”
The U.S. Congresswoman for New Mexico’s Second Congressional District said in a tweet on Saturday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s crackdown on the Freedom Convoy is “not the action of a western democracy, but that of an authoritarian regime like Venezuela.”
“Just as we provide asylum for political prisoners, we should do the same for truckers who have been subjected to violence, had their property confiscated and their bank accounts frozen by a government that is quickly becoming the embarrassment of the free world,” said Herrell.
She added that Americans could not be silent as the Canadian government silences peaceful protesters.
Canadian police from various forces have been cracking down on the protests since Friday, with only stragglers remaining on Sunday and Monday. Tensions were high as police employed violent tactics at times, including using riot gear and horses.
Rebel News reporter Alexa Lavoie was livestreaming the moment a police officer shot her in the leg with some sort of a gas canister from point-blank range. Lavoie was also hit with a police baton.
True North reporter Andrew Lawton was also pepper-sprayed.
At a press conference on Sunday, Freedom Convoy co-organizer Tom Marazzo called for protestors to make a peace withdrawal from Ottawa.
“There isn’t anything to be gained by being brutalized by police,” he said.
Marazzo went on to say that this withdrawal was not a defeat but one battle in a larger war.
Despite the Ottawa protests and border blockades having ended, Trudeau said on Monday that he would not revoke the Emergencies Act and would seek through a vote in Parliament to extend its implementation for at least four more weeks.
As of Monday afternoon, the vote was expected to pass, with NDP leader Jaghmeet Singh saying he would support Trudeau.
