Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Canadian police cleared on Saturday the main protest hub of the trucker-led demonstrations called the Freedom Convoy in downtown Ottawa which began almost a month ago over COVID-19 health rules. According to Ottawa police, 170 people had been arrested since the start of the police operation after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb 14, with 47 arrested Saturday. The Ottawa police operation was the largest ever seen in the Canadian capital. 

However, this is hardly the end of the story. The protest, which began as truckers' dissatisfaction with Trudeau's vaccine mandates has quickly evolved into a movement demanding an end to all epidemic control rules and a wider anti-establishment agenda. This has been an outbreak of collective discontent within Canadian society. 

Moreover, the protests are not only taking place in Ottawa, but are spreading throughout Canada and even to other Western countries, such as France and New Zealand. This, coupled with the interference by the US, means that the Canadian police's show of force will only invoke more anger and dissatisfaction among Canadians over the country's anti-COVID polices. There will be more voices of discontent from within Canada as well as from the US and Europe.

Compared with Trudeau's public support for the riots in Hong Kong, what happened in Canada reveals the face of a typical Western politician. Trudeau condemned the restoration of order and the maintenance of national unity in other countries while taking measures without hesitation against the protests at home. This is undoubtedly a confusion of cause and effect, and a lack of distinction between right and wrong. 

No matter how this protest ends, the dissatisfaction in Canada, and within all Western societies leading to the protests, will become stronger. People will vent their anger in forms of expressing freedom, securing personal welfare and fighting autocratic governments. This will further lead to the confusion of values and national identity in Western societies and worsen political division.  

This ongoing protest in Canada reveals another big question in Canadian politics - the proximity of the Canadian right-wing forces to the American right, which has existed for half a century. According to Frédéric Boily, a researcher of Canadian right-wing and populist movements, the particularity of this protest is the political recuperation by the US right-wing forces. The Canadian protests were supported both by members of US Congress like Senator Rand Paul and Representative Jim Jordan, and by US media figures, such as Tucker Carlson with Fox News. 

The US itself is in a state of deep division and confrontation since the COVID-19 pandemic began. A large number of people in the US, especially those in support of Trumpism, believe that the current Biden administration is "illegitimate." This sentiment in the US is also reflected in their perception of the Canadian anti-virus policies. Arguably, with US support of and instigation for the Freedom Convoy, no matter how hard the Canadian government tries to disperse or quell protests, it will be unable to completely silence discontent voices.

On the contrary, the protests will only be temporarily quelled and will resurge because of the massive financial and public opinion support provided by the US. Similar to the highly divisive attitudes within the US about mask mandates, such tragedy of division, confrontation will keep playing out in Canada. 

Thoughts and political activities in a Western country could easily and quickly spread to another. With the collusion of right-wing forces between Canada and the US and their growing strength, politics will become more extreme in the Western world. The various contradictions within Western societies won't be solved but only become worsened. People's dissatisfaction will further grow and societal division within Western countries will become a general trend rather than an isolated case.

The author is professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn