(Ottawa) Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Acting Chief Steve Bell says officers will clear the streets of the nation’s capital of protesters who oppose the government and COVID-19 restrictions in over the next few days, warning that they are prepared to use methods that people are not used to seeing in Ottawa.
Posted at 6:26
Bell made the pledge to Ottawa City Council in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, the day after former police chief Peter Sloly stepped down.
Police distributed notices to protesters camping outside Parliament Hill warning them that the Emergency Measures Act gives them the power to seize vehicles that are part of the nearly three-week occupation and ban people from moving within a certain area.
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino tabled the emergency measures motion in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.
The motion is to be debated Thursday in the House of Commons and the Senate is also to debate it Friday, on the powers conferred by this law.
The elected Conservatives and Bloc Québécois say they will not support the motion, while the leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, casts doubt on the future of things, calling the situation a crisis.
The minority Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has indicated that the blockades at the borders and in Ottawa are linked to a coordinated and targeted criminal action against Canadian interests, partially financed by Canadian interests.