Truckers Demonstration | An agreement between the mayor of Ottawa and truckers amid discontent

(Ottawa) Trucks blocking streets in residential Ottawa neighborhoods should be relocated to downtown streets, under an agreement between the mayor of Ottawa and the representative of the “Freedom Convoy”. An agreement that comes after annoyed residents of a sector of the city took matters into their own hands on Sunday.

Melanie Marquis
The Press

Mayssa Ferah
The Press

According to the agreement made public on Sunday between Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and one of the leading figures of the protest movement, Tamara Lich, the trucks would free the streets of certain residential areas of the city in the 24 to 72 next hours. The exchange of letters is dated Saturday 12 February.

“I want to see a clear demonstration that the convoy of truckers will leave the residential areas before noon, the [lundi] February 14,” said the first magistrate in his letter, adding that the departure of these approximately 400 trucks will constitute “a significant task from a logistical point of view”.

There is a but: the truckers will have to cooperate, we understand from reading the letter from M^me lich. The latter indicates that she will work to obtain their adhesion in the next few hours. However, she assures that a “plan” aimed at concentrating “the protests around Parliament Hill” has been established.

The city has been paralyzed by protests for 17 days now. At the beginning of the day, Sunday, citizens decided to mobilize near the Billings Bridge, to block the road to vehicles bound for the city center, where we still noisily celebrated, Friday and Saturday.

A line of vehicles stood still for several hours on Riverside Street in freezing temperatures. Hundreds of people, many of whom were waving signs, were walking down the street, sometimes crowding around the vehicles. Some copiously insulted the passengers.

” Go home ! Shame on you ! Leave our city! “, we have heard in particular. Insults and insulting remarks were also hurled directly at immobilized motorists by more upset residents.

In their red van, Yvette and Michael, who had arrived from Toronto the day before, expressed disappointment at being insulted in this way. “In the city center, the demonstrators were peaceful, the atmosphere was festive. Here, what we see is the opposite. People are rude,” Michael lamented.

Police under fire

Police force crisis management was on everyone’s lips.

“There is a big credibility problem at the moment with the police. People do not understand how we could let the trucks settle in the city center, why we let people pass with cans of gasoline, and that nothing happens, ”explained Serge, who lives in Orleans.

“I can’t sleep at night anymore. It’s unbearable. I have so much anxiety, anguish, I have the impression that we are losing our democracy and that the police are powerless, ”said a resident of the district, Marie-Odile Junker.

The police force may not have had sufficient support from politicians, believes Stéphane Wall, ex-supervisor at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) specializing in the judicious use of force.

“Before intervening and making arrests, we want to have political support. But what we have seen in Ottawa for three weeks is that the police did not perhaps feel free to take action. “We therefore let the situation deteriorate on the ground, judges the retired policeman.

The protesters have taken root. “It takes political leadership. Mr. Ford only came out on Friday to declare a state of emergency. »

Laxity meant that the protesters took the police less and less seriously, judge Stéphane Wall.

“When the police, politics and justice do not act quickly, it is the citizen who becomes exasperated,” he continues. Counter-demonstrations can then exacerbate tensions and complicate the police operation. “It’s never good to let it go. You need clear instructions from the start. »

Military intelligence specialists among the protesters?

Among those taking part in the protests in Ottawa are believed to be two, possibly three, members of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), a division specializing in counter-terrorism, as first reported by the ottawa citizenSunday.

Two investigations have been opened, and another could follow, Major-General Steve Boivin, commander of the organization, said in a statement.

“Canadian Special Operations Forces Command does not tolerate its members supporting or actively participating in causes that may jeopardize the apolitical nature necessary for their duties,” he said.