(OTTAWA) Police are considering several strategies, including force, to dislodge protesters who have paralyzed downtown Ottawa since Friday. Several hundred vehicles are now gone, but another wave is preparing for next weekend.
Posted at 6:35 p.m.
“I can’t say if it will be hundreds, a thousand or ten thousand people, but we know that people want the protest to continue this week and next weekend,” said the Ottawa police chief. , Peter Sloly, at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“It is a very fluid, very dynamic and large-scale situation, so we are facing dangerous circumstances,” he added.
Ottawa Police Chief and Mayor Jim Watson repeatedly said there were no deaths, no injuries and no riots over the weekend as the situation had the potential to escalate . Police took a “de-escalation” approach to avoid provoking protesters. Only one person was arrested. Twelve investigations were opened.
“The scale of the protest has diminished over the past 12 hours and we want this trend to continue until it ends,” Sloly said. I can’t guarantee that right now, but I can guarantee that all efforts at negotiation, de-escalation, coordination will continue until the protest comes to a complete end. »
He later admitted that the organizers did not represent all of the people converged on Ottawa and that they were not in a position to control them.
The mayor said he understood the frustration of downtown residents over the noise and disruption caused by the protest. Some transit routes are impassable and the Rideau Mall was still closed on Monday.
Officers will soon be redeployed to their respective neighborhoods, but a strong police presence will remain downtown. Ottawa Police have also set up a hotline for citizens to report any crime, including hate crimes, assaults and threats.
“No matter where you live, no matter where your vehicle is registered, if you came here and committed a crime or a hate crime, you will be investigated,” the police chief warned. We will find you and you will be brought to justice. »
The Ottawa police with the help of several police forces including the Ontario Provincial Police, the Sûreté du Québec, the Gatineau police and other Ontario municipal police.
“The truckers did what others should have done,” says Duhaime
The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Éric Duhaime, congratulates the truckers and the demonstrators gathered in downtown Ottawa, who according to him demonstrate because the ramparts which were to defend democratic rights, such as the courts, have ” failed miserably”.
“The truckers had to stand up and I have to say that the truckers did what others should have done long before,” said Mr. Duhaime.
On the eve of the resumption of parliamentary work in Quebec City on Monday, the Conservative leader lamented that “very few people […] have stood up to the drift that Quebec has suffered for two years. For him, health measures are “liberticidal”, that is to say that they destroy freedom.
Éric Duhaime asks the Legault government to put an end to the vaccine passport and to give up asking for a financial contribution from Quebecers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. Quebec must table a bill that will indicate how it intends to impose this new tax measure.
Hugo Pilon-Larose, The Pressin Quebec