Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a new threat to protesters who have the country paralyzed because they are against some rules set by the nation in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic: he told them that he will freeze their bank accounts.
Then First Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland made it clear that the surveillance also includes cryptocurrency transactions.
This came as a huge surprise to the crypto ecosystem that thought it would be a lifeline to counter the government threat.
Trudeau said that the scope of the measures would be “time-limited,” “reasonable and proportionate” and that he would not deploy the military.
He also said that without the need for a court order, banks would be able to freeze the personal accounts of anyone linked to the protests, without the need for a court order.
“It’s about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs,” Trudeau argued at a press conference yesterday. He also said police would be given “more tools” to jail or fine protesters and protect critical infrastructure.
Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act comes as demonstrations across Canada enter their third week.
Despite all the threats, hundreds of protesters remain in Canada’s capital.
The truckers have now been protesting for three weeks against government measures that force them to be vaccinated to cross the U.S.-Canada border. In fact, they opened a GoFundMe account to receive donations and received contributions of USD $9 million, but it was closed because the platform claimed it could not support violent demonstrations.
They were left with a Bitcoin account that received a lot of support from the crypto community, which as of Friday had given almost USD $1 million.
