Ontario, February 16: Ottawa police have started handing out leaflets to protesters downtown, warning them to leave the area or face criminal charges.
Police began handing out a ‘notice to demonstration participants’ on Wellington Street and the surrounding area Wednesday morning, where ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstrators have been camped out for 20 days.
“You must leave this area now,” the notice says. “Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in the blocking streets, are committing a criminal offense and you may be arrested. You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you will face charges.”
The move is a sign that police are stepping up enforcement efforts to end the trucker protest occupation after nearly three weeks.
The notice cites the federal Emergencies Act, which the prime minister invoked on Monday, saying it allows for the prohibition of travel to, from or within specific areas.
“That means anyone coming to Ottawa for the purpose of joining the ongoing occupation is breaking the law,” it says, adding that the act also allows police to seize vehicles that are part of the demonstration.
With the trucker protest in downtown Ottawa reaching its 20th day and the city’s police service under new command, all eyes are turning to when and how police will move to end the occupation.
“My belief is, my desire is, that the police will start to take action,” Mayor Jim Watson said.
Newly-named interim chief Steve Bell said Wednesday that with the help of OPP and RCMP officers under a new integrated command centre, that Ottawa police are now in a position to end the occupation. Peter Sloly stepped down as chief on Tuesday.
“I have full confidence in the deputy chief,” Watson said Wednesday. “I’ve known him for a number of years. He’s a straight shooter. He will move when he feels it’s the most appropriate to have a safe, quick and orderly operation.”
Watson, while thanking Sloly for his service, said he made the right decision to resign and expressed frustration at the lack of police action as hundreds of protesters took over the downtown core.
“The bottom line is that there were built-up expectations every weekend that something would happen, that we would actually see some progress and movement on getting people out, and unfortunately the public was let down time and time again,” he said.
“We were promised many, many times there would be action,” he added. “We didn’t see a whole lot of that.”
How and when police will take action remains unclear, as does the police service’s use of new powers granted under the federal Emergencies Act.
The Ottawa Police Services Board heard Tuesday that the police service is still studying the regulation to determine how it will be applied in this case.
“We have been working with our legal team and those of our provincial and federal partners to understand implications of various orders and actions and consider the impacts on our ultimate mission,” said acting deputy chief Trish Ferguson.
About 360 vehicles remain downtown related to the occupation, according to police, with about 150 demonstrators believed to be spending the night in the core. Numbers are expected to increase closer to the weekend, as they have the last two weekends following the start of the event on Jan. 29.
Ferguson told the board that as of Tuesday morning, police had 172 active criminal investigations related to the occupation, 18 arrests had been made and 33 charges had been laid. With the help of Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services, nearly 3,000 tickets had been issued.
The entire operation has cost police more than $14 million.
A special meeting of Ottawa city council first scheduled for Monday and then postponed to Tuesday is now scheduled for today at 4 p.m.
“The meeting is being rescheduled to allow Council to receive a more comprehensive update and ask questions when the necessary personnel are available,” the city said. “Further, [Monday’s] announcement requires more work and analysis to provide Council and the public with a better understanding of the tools available under the Emergencies Act.”
Coun. Diane Deans, the chair of the police services board, suggested that the Ottawa Police Service may have been ill-equipped to handle the protest from the start.
One expert suggested the longer police wait to take action, the more credibility they risk losing.
That action could start with communication, he said, as at the Ambassador Bridge blockade in Windsor where authorities handed out leaflets to protesters informing them of the laws they were breaking.Federal ministers say their work of implementing the Emergencies Act is underway.
The public order emergency declared by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday automatically went into effect for 30 days, but the government must still table a motion in both the House of Commons and Senate within seven days of declaration to confirm it. Government House Leader Mark Holland said Tuesday morning the motion is coming “imminently.”
The speaker of the Senate recalled the Senate to sit on Friday to discuss the declaration of emergency.
