Trucks rolled into Canada’s capital on Saturday in a protest against mandatory vaccines, but it quickly turned into a larger demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic.

The organisers of the “Freedom Convoy” had been calling for the elimination of COVID restrictions and an end to a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers.

A week-long drive across Canada had culminated in the truckers arriving in the capital to protest.

Thousands gathered in Ottawa, parking on the grounds of the National War Memorial while some danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and others carried signs and flags with swastikas.

A statue of Canadian hero Terry Fox – who lost a leg to bone cancer and then trekked across the country in 1980 – was draped in an upside-down Canadian flag calling to “mandate freedom”.

The move caused widespread condemnation, including from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr Trudeau retweeted a statement from the Terry Fox Foundation that said: “Terry believe in science and gave his life to help others”.

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Canada’s Defence Staff Chief General Wayne Eyre said those involved in the demonstration “should hang their heads in shame”, tweeting: “I am sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the National War Memorial.

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“Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, including free speech, but not this.”

Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and the premier of the province of Quebec who is proposing to tax the unvaccinated is popular.

Police had been prepared for the possibility of violence and warned residents to avoid downtown. A parliament security official advised politicians to lock their doors, amid reports their private homes may be targeted.

However, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said a great number of the protesters who gathered in Ottawa had no connection to the trucking industry, and said they had a separate agenda to push.

The alliance said the vast majority of drivers are vaccinated.

Some opposition Canadian Conservative politicians served coffee to protestors, while former US President Donald Trump weighed in, telling a rally in Texas: “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way. They are doing more to defend American freedom than our leaders by far.”

However, former US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman, who served under President Barack Obama, said “the threat against democracy is not only happening in America”.

He tweeted: “Both the use of the swastika and the confederate flag are symbols of hate.

“So very sad to see these symbols anywhere and especially in Canada.”

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