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By Nick Mordowanec
Staff Writer
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being called a hypocrite for supporting Chinese protests after he used executive authority to quell protests at home.
Trudeau told reporters Tuesday in Ottawa that "Canadians are watching" Chinese protests in response to zero-COVID policies and lockdowns. It was his first public comment and came days after he defended his response to trucker protests in Canada this year.
"We're going to continue to ensure that China knows we'll stand up for human rights, we'll stand with people who are expressing themselves," Trudeau said. "We also need to make sure that China and places around the world are respecting journalists and their ability to do their job. We'll continue to make that very clear."
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The Globe and Mail reported that Cong Peiwu, Beijing's ambassador to Canada, spoke Monday to a University of Ottawa crowd in an event closed to media filming.
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Peiwu reportedly said that the ruling Chinese Communist Party will always "firmly oppose interference in China's internal affairs under the pretense of the so-called democratic and human rights issues."
Last Friday, Trudeau appeared before Canada's Public Order Emergency Commission to testify in defense of his invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy trucker protests.
Trudeau's use of the act on February 14 was the first by a Canadian leader since it was passed into law by parliament in 1988.
Prior to being revoked February 23, it provided the government the ability to target protestors' finances, set up no-go zones in vital areas, and compel towing companies to clear away vehicles.
"We kept hearing there was a plan," Trudeau testified. "I would recommend people take a look at that actual plan, which wasn't a plan at all....It was not even in the most generous characterizations a plan for how they were going to end the occupation."
Trudeau has been widely scrutinized since Tuesday.
Twitter users have shared videos of Canadian police using aggression toward truckers and other protesters.
"He didn't allow his own citizens in Canada to do the same," commentator and pundit James Melville tweeted. "He closed their bank accounts. Gargantuan hypocrisy."
Researcher and investor Dr. Eli David tweeted, "Justin Trudeau condemns China for doing exactly what he did," adding a clown emoji.
"OMG! Justin Trudeau is CONDEMNING China for their treatment of anti-lockdown protesters and journalists on the ground," tweeted Avi Yemini of Rebel News Australia. "The chutzpah of this guy. After HE did the exact same thing. LOOK IN THE MIRROR TYRANT."
Newsweek reached out to Trudeau's office for comment.
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