Canada protests: Police begin to make arrests at Ottawa protest

Police are making arrests at a protest site in Canada's capital which has been occupied by anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators for three weeks.

The operation started early on Friday morning in downtown Ottawa with police saying some protesters surrendered.

It comes days after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to crack down on demonstrations.

A group of protesters have remained in the city in defiance of orders to leave.

On Thursday, police detained two leaders of the trucker convoy. Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were charged with counselling to commit the offence of mischief.

Ottawa police set up almost 100 police check-points around the main protest site on Thursday, and a large business and residential district in the city centre to prevent more protesters from entering the area. What began in late January as a truck convoy headed to Ottawa to oppose a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the US-Canada border grew into a broader opposition to pandemic restrictions and Mr Trudeau's government, with supporting protests across the country.

Authorities last weekend cleared the most economically damaging blockade - of a bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, with the US state of Michigan. Trucker protests at other border crossings in Coutts, Alberta, and Emerson, Manitoba, ended this week.

Canada's House of Commons and Senate cancelled Friday sittings because of police action surrounding the parliament buildings.

Parliamentarians were scheduled to debate the decision by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the never-before-used emergencies law.

Government House Leader Mark Holland said members were awaiting advice from security officials on when the House could re-open.

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