Canada Day | A police officer attacked during the first overflows

Ottawa police want to avoid repeating mistakes of winter’s ‘freedom convoy’

Mylene Crete
The Press

Police arrested four people in downtown Ottawa Thursday during a rally against mandatory vaccinations and the Trudeau government.

A police officer was reportedly strangled during a rally at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. “Initial investigation reveals an interaction with officers became confrontational and one officer was strangled,” Ottawa Police said on Twitter. The officer’s condition was not disclosed.

Following the attack, other officers intervened. A total of four people were arrested. The event would have occurred not far from Wellington and Elgin streets, near the Ottawa parliament and the Château Laurier.

Police issued a warning on their Twitter account. “Vehicle-oriented protests will not be permitted in the city center and will be stopped on highways or roads if they pose a risk to public safety. […] The police will not tolerate illegal or aggressive behavior and we have strategies to deal with individuals or groups who break the law. »

At the same time, however, most people in the crowd continued to move happily and peacefully. Tourists and families also strolled the grounds, looking puzzled as they took photos of the National War Memorial.

Against compulsory vaccination

Earlier in the evening, James Topp, a Canadian Armed Forces reservist, had arrived at the National War Memorial to the cheers of a large crowd. The soldier was charged in February with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline, for remarks made while wearing his uniform. For the past four months, he has been leading a march to the capital, from Vancouver.

He believes that the federal government has gone too far by imposing compulsory vaccination in the public service and in transport. This requirement was lifted on June 14, but remains in place in the Armed Forces. According to the federal government, 773 civil servants revealed that they had not been vaccinated, which represents 0.3% of the entire civil service.

“The march was a way of attracting the attention of our elected officials to make them understand the damage caused not only to federal public servants, but also to the private sector,” he explains. There are people who have lost their jobs or no longer have a paycheque. »

He claims that the vaccination obligation is not simply lifted, but repealed, that people who have been suspended can return to work and that they be paid compensation.

Poilievre joins the march

Conservative Party leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre walked alongside her on Thursday. “I think he’s fighting for the right to choose,” he told a CTV reporter. People should have the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. »

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network associates Mr. Topp with radical right-wing groups. Mr. Topp, he claims to have been inspired by the “freedom convoy”, but distances himself from the organizers. “I don’t plan to occupy the city,” he said.

The reservist, however, met with a group of Conservative MPs last week in the company of one of Donald Trump’s former advisers and a volunteer from the “freedom convoy”, Tom Marazzo.

Mr. Topp is due to speak this Friday afternoon at a picnic organized in a park located a few kilometers from the parliament. A walk is then planned in the middle of the afternoon. Police confirm that some protesters have expressed on social media their intention to settle downtown until Labor Day.

Ottawa police want to avoid repeating the same mistakes

Criticized for their laxity last winter, the police do not want to let trucks get stuck a second time. “We learned from what happened in January and February,” admits Inspector Frank D’Aoust, in an interview.

Tow trucks have been parked since Wednesday evening on the section of Wellington Street still accessible to vehicles. From the “freedom convoy”, the 500 meters of the Parliamentary Precinct are only passable on foot or by bicycle, except for emergency vehicles.

“We make sure we have enough manpower before the convoy arrives in town to take the situation in hand,” he adds. Unfortunately, in January and February we were not ready for what was to come. »

At the height of the crisis, former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly called for 1,800 additional officers to dislodge the hundreds of trucks and their blaring horns that had come to rest on the streets of downtown Ottawa. the federal capital. He resigned a week later.

The federal government subsequently invoked the Emergency Measures Act. A few days later, a vast police operation spread over three days had made it possible to dislodge the demonstrators.

The Sûreté du Québec had participated and will be present again in Ottawa this Friday. Inspector D’Aoust wouldn’t reveal the total number of officers who will be on duty, but said Ottawa has gotten help from other police forces to swell its numbers. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal will also lend a hand, as will the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and other municipal police forces in Ontario.

The City has established a “control zone” in the city center of the federal capital where illegally parked vehicles are not tolerated. Fines have been increased to $1,000. According to the latest update late Thursday afternoon, municipal officials had issued 234 parking tickets and towed 59 vehicles that were in this control zone. People are invited to use public transport, which is free for the occasion. Police made four arrests on Friday evening, bringing the total number to five since Thursday.

The Parliamentary Protective Service has also adopted enhanced security measures. Visitors must go through a metal detector if they want to approach Center Block even to take a photo. All bags are searched and a long list of prohibited items is posted on the wrought iron fence surrounding the parliament building. No tents, tables or cooking equipment are permitted.

With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Press and The Canadian Press