'You are a disgrace': European MPs trash Justin Trudeau to his face during Brussels visit over 'trampling' of Freedom Convoy protests

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to sit and watch as members of the European Parliament out-and-out denounced the leader to his face on Wednesday over his dictatorial handling of the Freedom Convoy protests.

The progressive prime minister — who last month invoked the Emergencies Act to quell vaccine mandate protests in Canada's capital city — was in Brussels, Belgium, this week to urge European leaders to step up their opposition to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

But some MEPs were not so keen on taking instruction from someone they view as a dictator, the Toronto Sun reported.

What are the details?

German MEP Christine Anderson offered Trudeau what she called an appropriate "welcome" to the European Parliament by calling the leader a "disgrace" and condemning him for human rights violations.

"It would have been appropriate for Mr. Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, to address this house, according to article 144, an article, which was specifically designed to debate the violations of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law," Anderson began.

"A prime minister who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy should not be allowed to speak in this house at all," the lawmaker continued.

She then ended her short speech with a bang, declaring, "You are a disgrace for any democracy. Please spare us your presence," as the prime minister looked on.

What else?

Another MEP, Mislav Kolakusic of Croatia, joined in on the harsh denunciation of the Canadian prime minister.

During his floor speech, Kolakusic made specific reference to Freedom Convoy protesters' controversial encounter with police horses near Parliament Hill when he called out Trudeau's "tramp[ling] of fundamental values."

The MEP said Canada was once a symbol of the modern world but has recently become a "symbol of civil rights violation" under Trudeau’s "quasi-liberal boot."

“We watched how you trample women with horses, how you block bank accounts of single parents so they can’t even pay their children’s education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for their homes," he charged, adding, "To you, these may be liberal methods, for many citizens of the world, it is a dictatorship of the worst kind."

Following the invocation of the Emergencies Act, the Canadian government took unprecedented actions to halt protests, including freezing private and corporate bank accounts and threatening arrest for parents who brought children to demonstrations.

Kolakusic concluded with a shot at Trudeau's message to the body by saying united citizens of the world "can stop a regime that wants to destroy the freedom of citizens, either by bombs or harmful pharmaceutical products."

Anything else?

Still another MEP, Cristian Terhes of Romania, protested Trudeau's speech by refusing to attend the plenary session.

The MEP said in a Facebook post that Trudeau can’t come and "teach democracy lessons to Putin from the European Parliament when you trample with horse hooves your own citizens who are demanding their fundamental rights be respected."

"The difference between democracy and tyranny is not determined by the geographical location of political leaders, but by the values they promote," Teres added.

German MEP Bernhard Zimniok, too, blasted Trudeau, saying the prime minister should not have been invited to speak. By welcoming the prime minister, he argued the body had sent "an invitation to someone who has been trampling on democratic rights."

"Clearly the values of democracy are being despised by this individual," Zimniok added. "Let us not give someone like this any speaking time in this house of democracy."