(Ottawa) The main shopping center in downtown Ottawa has reopened after a police intervention that forced its evacuation for a few hours.
Updated yesterday at 3:43 p.m.
“The Ottawa Police have completed their [intervention] on the scene and the Rideau Center is now open for the rest of the day, “said in an email sent shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Cadillac Fairview group.
The Ottawa Police Service, for its part, noted that the police operation was over, but that the investigation was continuing.
The mall had been evacuated in the early afternoon, after the police were alerted to a shoplifting possibly perpetrated with a weapon. A suspect has been arrested and the operation is continuing, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday.
“One person arrested, police operation continues,” the OPS briefly tweeted on Tuesday.
The shopping center had just reopened after being forced to close on January 29 due to the presence of the “freedom convoy”.
The place had become a haven for the protesters who poured in, often ignoring the obligation to wear a mask there, while it reigned freezing cold in the streets of the capital.
The situation that Cadillac Fairview described as “unsustainable” led to the closure of the Rideau Center for a period of just over three weeks.