OTTAWA | Police made their first targeted arrests yesterday, including top boss Tamara Lich, after turning downtown Ottawa into a mousetrap with barricades and checkpoints erected in the rain and snow.
• Read also: [EN IMAGES] The barricaded parliament: towards an imminent intervention by the Ottawa police
• Read also: ‘Freedom convoy’: Citizens of downtown Ottawa pursue protesters
“This weekend will be very different from the last three,” challenged Steve Bell, acting Ottawa police chief.
The tension escalated with the arrest of one of the leaders of the convoy, Chris Barber, at the 21and siege day.
Photo Twitter, FedUpFarmChick: Do
One of the leading heads Chris Barber.
Then it was the turn of Tamara Lich, the woman behind the GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for the truckers’ convoy, which raised more than $10 million.
Photo Twitter, Joe Warmington
One of the leading heads Tamara Lich.
At the end of the afternoon yesterday, the police had also announced an imminent intervention.
It went from words to deeds a few hours later with targeted arrests and an increased police presence within the hard core in front of parliament.
Photo: AFP
Shane Marshall, known for throwing rocks at Justin Trudeau.
Officers also handcuffed Shane Marshall, a man known to police for throwing rocks at Justin Trudeau during the election campaign.
Sealed area
The authorities began to tighten the noose at dawn, erecting high metal barriers around the parliament buildings, the Senate and the Supreme Court.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
Employees worked hard yesterday to protect the entrance to parliament by installing high fences.
“You are on the wrong side of history! a demonstrator shouted angrily, a flag on his shoulders, to the municipal employees.
A tight zone, bounded by about 100 checkpoints, has been set up to screen protesters from workers in the area, Chief Bell said.
The Journal noted the departure of a few trucks during the day, despite the encouragement of one of the group’s leaders, Patrick King.
Others said they were ready to resist at all costs.
“In the gang that we are, it will be difficult to stop us all,” believes Phil, a Quebec trucker used to transporting construction materials.
The most determined protesters called for resistance until the evening, under the snow.
“We’re holding on, we’re not going anywhere. This is a legal protest,” one of them shouted on a makeshift stage, in front of a few dozen people.
The local police have received the reinforcement of a hundred agents of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), who will act under the authority of the Ontario Provincial Police.
No children
Authorities said they would ensure that no children would be around in the event of a more forceful intervention.
Photo QMI Agency, Maxime Deland
Police officers from the Sûreté du Québec when leaving the province yesterday to lend a hand to their colleagues in Ottawa.
“They want to change tactics and use rubber bullets? Agreed. Anyway, my children will be safe next to me, in a hotel room,” said Sandy Williams, an Alberta trucker and father of four children, the youngest of whom is 9 years old.
The embassies of the United States and Denmark even advised their nationals yesterday to avoid the vicinity of the freedom convoy.
Forced to leave
On the other side of the Ottawa River, members of the Farfadaas anti-sanitary measures group will be forced to abandon the makeshift camp they had set up in a parking lot in downtown Gatineau.
The Superior Court delivered an injunction in the afternoon to the owner of the land, the real estate company Zibi, who had accepted their presence for a period of two days against remuneration. They had not been tolerated there since February 7.