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A30 world news
Diabierna 25 Februari 2022

Trudeau revokes emergency powers after Canada blockades end

(AP) — Canadian Prime For almost a week the busiest announced it is ending its
Minister Justin Trudeau U.S.-Canada border cross- state of emergency but said
announced Wednesday he ing, the Ambassador Bridge the “emergency tools pro-
is removing emergency between Windsor, Ontario vided to law enforcement
powers police can use af- and Detroit, was blocked. will be maintained at this
ter authorities ended the The crossing sees more than time as police continue to ad-
blockades at the borders 25% of the trade between the dress ongoing activity on the
and the occupation in Ot- two countries. ground.”
tawa by truckers and oth-
ers opposed to COVID-19 Authorities moved to reopen Those who block critical in-
restrictions. the border posts, but police frastructure face up to a year
in Ottawa did little but is- in prison and a maximum
Trudeau said the “threat sue warnings until Friday, fine of $100,000.
continues” but the acute even as hundreds and some-
emergency that included times thousands of protesters A small convoy of truckers
entrenched occupations has clogged the streets of the city demanding an end to corona-
ended. His government in- and besieged Parliament Hill. virus mandates began a cross-
voked the powers last week country drive from Califor-
and lawmakers affirmed the shut down key parts of the aimed at a COVID-19 vac- On Friday, authorities nia to the Washington, D.C.,
powers late Monday. capital for more than three cine mandate for cross-bor- launched the largest police area on Wednesday.
weeks. But all border block- der truckers but also encom- operation in Canadian his-
“The situation is no longer ades have now ended and the passed fury over the range of tory, arresting a string of Ot- Several hundred people ral-
an emergency, therefore the streets around the Canadian COVID-19 restrictions and tawa protesters and increas- lied in a parking lot in the
federal government will be Parliament are quiet. hatred of Trudeau, reflected ing that pressure on Saturday cold, windswept Mojave
ending the use of the emer- the spread of disinformation until the streets in front of Desert town of Adelanto be-
gencies act,” Trudeau said. “We were very clear that the in Canada and simmering Parliament were clear. Even- fore about two dozen trucks
“We are confident that exist- use of the emergencies act populist and right-wing an- tually, police arrested at least and a number of other ve-
ing laws and bylaws are suf- would be limited in time,” ger. 191 people and towed away hicles hit the road. It wasn’t
ficient.” Trudeau said. 79 vehicles. Many protesters clear how many intended to
The self-styled Freedom retreated as the pressure in- go all the way.
The emergencies act allows Trudeau had warned earlier Convoy shook Canada’s rep- creased.
authorities to declare certain this week there were some utation for civility, inspired The Pentagon has approved
areas as no-go zones. It also truckers just outside Ot- convoys in France, New The Royal Canadian Mount- the deployment of 700 un-
allows police to freeze truck- tawa who might be planning Zealand and the Nether- ed Police said those who had armed National Guard
ers’ personal and corporate further blockades or occu- lands and interrupted trade, their bank accounts frozen troops to the nation’s capital
bank accounts and compel pations. His public safety causing economic damage were “influencers in the il- as it prepares for multiple
tow truck companies to haul minister also said there was on both sides of the border. legal protest in Ottawa, and trucker convoys. The troops
away vehicles. an attempt to block a border Hundreds of trucks even- owners and/or drivers of ve- would be used to assist with
crossing in British Columbia tually occupied the streets hicles who did not want to traffic control during dem-
The trucker protest grew un- over the weekend. around Parliament, a display leave the area.” onstrations expected in the
til it closed a handful of Can- that was part protest and part city in the coming days, the
ada-U.S. border posts and The protests, which were first carnival. The province of Ontario also Pentagon said.

Uncertain future for islanders who survived Tongan eruption

(AP) — The first two booms from experiences and uncertain future to which back in late 2014 had rumbled houses. He’d never experienced any-
the volcano were scary enough, The Associated Press in an interview to life, creating a small, new island thing like it in his life.
but the third explosion was im- that was translated by an official from and briefly disrupting air travel in a
mense, sending everyone from the Tonga Red Cross. series of eruptions. Vailea scrambled back down the hill
the village running from their and saw the wife, two daughters and
homes in a reaction that would Sione Vailea, 52, said Mango Island But those were nothing compared to son of a 65-year-old man coming
save all but one of their lives. is the prettiest place he knows and the scale of eruption that took place up. The man was gone, taken by the
nothing compares to it in all of Tonga. on that Saturday evening in Janu- waves.
Even now, more than five weeks later, Just 14 families lived on the island, he ary. When the islanders heard the
the children from Mango Island still said, all of them close together in a third massive boom, they began run- “He was the first victim of the tsu-
often run or cower when they hear a single village. ning from their low-lying village up nami,” Vailea said. “Because he died
thunderclap or loud noise. a nearby hill, the highest point on right then, as they were trying to get
Each family owned a small, open-sid- Mango Island. up to the top of the island.”
The small island in Tonga was one of ed boat and each morning the weath-
the closest places to the Jan. 15 South er was favorable, they would go onto “There was no sign that there was go- Two other people elsewhere in Tonga
Pacific volcanic eruption, an event so the ocean to catch reef fish, snapper, ing to be a tsunami, but our gut feel- also died from the tsunami, including
massive it sent out a sonic boom that octopus and lobster. ing was we needed to get up to the a British national, and a fourth per-
could be heard in Alaska and a mush- top, because we weren’t sure what son died from what authorities de-
room plume of ash that was seen in What they couldn’t eat themselves was happening,” Vailea said. scribed as related trauma. The tsuna-
startling images taken from space. On they would take to the capital to sell, mi crossed the Pacific Ocean to Peru,
Mango Island, every single home was getting enough money to buy food As the island’s appointed town of- where it caused an oil spill and two
destroyed by the tsunami that fol- and other necessities. For those for- ficer, Vailea checked to make sure more people drowned.
lowed. tunate enough to have a decent-sized everybody was gathered. He noticed
engine on their boats, it was a six- one family was missing.
All 62 survivors were rescued by hour return journey to the capital,
boat and moved to Tonga’s capital, but it could take double that time for Another survivor, 72-year-old Su-
Nuku’alofa, where they have been those puttering along on 15 horse- laki Kafoika, who goes by the name
living together since in a church hall. power. Halapaini — or talking chief — a title
Most of that time they’ve been in bestowed upon him by Tonga’s king,
lockdown after Tonga experienced its Mango Island is a little over 20 miles said that once he got to the top of the
first outbreak of the coronavirus. (32 kilometers) from the Hunga Ton- hill, he looked back. He could see
Two of the survivors described their ga Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano, waves crashing over the tops of their