Dozens of unidentified drone flights were seen over Ottawa’s ‘freedom convoy’ staging area during the four-day police response in an attempt to clear protesters, reported the ‘Ottawa citizen”.
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Nearly 27 drones would have made 59 separate flights during the police intervention, according to data collected by the administration of the Ottawa international airport during a pilot project on the detection of drones. Devices used by the police are not included in this count.
If some of these flying objects belonged to the media, others could have been used by demonstrators to monitor the movements of law enforcement, said Michaeal Beaudette, vice president of security, emergency management and the transportation of clients from Ottawa International Airport.
“Some [drones] were probably used by those I call “onlookers”, people who are simply interested in what is happening,” he explained in an interview with the media. “But others could use them to get a sense of the situation and where the police are forming or moving. Those [informations] would help in making decisions.
The spike in drone activity around Parliament Hill was significant during this February period.
“We saw more drones in that four-day period than we would see in a 30-day period during our busiest month,” Beaudette said.
The data has been shared with police, as the airspace around Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Residence and Rideau Hall is off limits unless special permission is granted.