As downtown Ottawa residents brace for an eighth day of blaring horns and traffic gridlock there is still no end in sight to the anti-vaccine mandate protest by truckers who have parked their rigs in front of Parliament Hill.

Late Thursday, federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the RCMP had approved Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson's request for Mounties to support city police.

Mendicino said the convoy has caused significant disruptions to local residents including vandalism, harassment, expressions of hate and violence, as well as the ongoing obstruction of many services.

But there was still no clear sign that any action to end the protest was imminent.

Tamara Lich, a protest organizer, told a Thursday news conference the departure of the demonstrators would "be based on the prime minister doing what is right: ending all mandates and restrictions on our freedoms." 

However, there was absolutely no indication Thursday of that being on the table as Justin Trudeau still refused to meet with the protesters, instead repeating his criticism of their tactics and calling on them to give the increasingly frustrated people of Ottawa their neighbourhoods back.

The prime minister also responded to questions about the possibility of bringing in the military to help end the protest, saying that option was not in the cards at this time.