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Police arrest Ottawa blockade leaders as many defy orders to leave

Convoy organizers arrested

The Canadian Press - | Story: 360363

UPDATE 7:50 p.m.

Police in Ottawa have set up checkpoints throughout the downtown area to prevent protesters from entering the core of the capital.

Officers stationed throughout downtown can be seen peering into vehicle windows with their flashlights to ask travellers where they’re headed.

Interim police Chief Steve Bell says only people who aren’t protesting will be able to get downtown this weekend.

The police also appear to have shut down highway exits and light rail stops downtown.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Tamara Lich, one of the protest organizers, says she has been charged with one count of counselling mischief and was still in custody following her arrest earlier tonight.

UPDATE 6:10 p.m.

Ottawa ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizer Tamara Lich has been arrested.

Photos posted to social media show Lich in handcuffs.

About an hour prior she was asked about the arrest of fellow organizer Chris Barber, who was detained earlier in the day.

“It’s not an illegal protest,” Lich told CTV in Ottawa.

When asked about the possibility of being arrested herself, she declared “hold the line!”

Police established a perimeter with about 100 checkpoints covering Ottawa's downtown to keep out anyone intent on joining the protest, a move to contain the convoy demonstration that has swollen with large crowds each weekend since late January.

"What I can tell you is this weekend will look very different than the past three weekends," said interim Ottawa police Chief Steve Bell.

The approximately 30,000 residents who live in the newly cordoned area, and those who work downtown or have another legitimate reason to be there, will have to navigate the checkpoints when moving about.

"I know that these are measures that our community is not used to, they will be in place only as long as necessary to remove the unlawful protests," Bell said.

On Wednesday, police began issuing written warnings to demonstrators to leave or risk being arrested and more warnings were made throughout the day Thursday, though many participants remained openly defiant of the potential consequences for staying.

Some still partied in a hot tub on one street. Others pushed gas cans full of fuel toward the dozens of heavy trucks and RVs that have blocked off streets in the parliamentary district for three weeks now.

Bell said the Emergencies Act, invoked Monday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is among the tools helping police manage what he called an "unprecedented, unlawful demonstration."

UPDATE 4:20 p.m.

One of the key protest organizers has been seen taken away in handcuffs as police began to make arrests outside Parliament Hill.

Fellow organizer Pat King has identified the man as Chris Barber and says he has been arrested for mischief.

The Ottawa Police Service says it does not confirm the names of anyone arrested until charges are laid.

In a video posted to social media, King says he expects Barber and other protesters to be told they must leave Ottawa as a condition of release.

King says he has consulted lawyers who will be helping Barber. He adds that he's advising protesters who are arrested to write the Latin phrase "non assumpsit" on the paperwork, a legal term denying making a promise.

UPDATE 3:05 p.m.

Police made several arrests late today as hundreds of antigovernment demonstrators continued to ignore demands they leave the ongoing blockade in Ottawa.

Reporters on the ground witnessed several people arrested on Parliament Hill including one man who was told he was being arrested because of an outstanding warrant.

A few blocks from Parliament Hill, one of the convoy organizers was seen in handcuffs between two police officers.

ORIGINAL 7:20 a.m.

The police presence in downtown Ottawa is growing as efforts to begin clearing a three-week long occupation around Parliament Hill appear imminent but the antigovernment demonstrators aren't buckling.

With rain and sleet falling on the nation's capital, workers began erecting fencing around Parliament Hill and several other buildings downtown, including the Senate, around 8 a.m. Access to the Hill grounds is still open in some places for now.

Larger numbers of police in bright yellow vests are present in the downtown core, most of them moving in groups, handing out more leaflets and warning those present to leave or they could be arrested.

The warnings appeared to be having little effect on people who remained. In one food tent a woman operating two barbecues yelled out the national anthem in French while police stood nearby.

On Wellington Street as police tried to give leaflets to some demonstrators, they were swarmed and police backed off quickly.

The police are warning with leaflets or verbally that people must leave or they might be arrested and criminally charged. They are also warned their vehicles and other property could be seized, their driver's licence suspended, commercial vehicle registration cancelled, and personal or business bank accounts frozen.

The City of Ottawa is warning them their dogs will be impounded, and the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa Wednesday told parents who have their children with them at the occupation need to make alternate arrangements for their children to be cared for "following potential police action."

The federal government is about to begin debating the use of the Emergencies Act, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked Monday after more than two weeks of the Ottawa occupation and multiple border crossings blockaded by people making various demands.

Some claim they are there only to end all COVID-19 restrictions, but others, including those who claim to be leading the convoy in Ottawa, have demanded the Liberal government be ousted. They have offered to work with opposition parties to make this happen.

Deputy Ottawa police chief Steve Bell said Wednesday police were ready to use methods people are not used to seeing in the capital and that efforts to clear the streets were imminent.

On Wednesday police handed out leaflets warning of impending arrests and criminal charges against those encamped both downtown and at a parking lot east of downtown that has become a supply yard for those downtown.

The Liberal government has characterized the blockades at the borders and in Ottawa as being connected by a highly co-ordinated, targeted and partly foreign-funded criminal attack on Canadian interests.

They point to the arrest of 13 individuals and seizure of multiple weapons at a convoy in Coutts, Alta., earlier this week, as evidence of a dangerous, criminal element involved. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Wednesday some of those arrested have ties to people known to be participating in the occupation in Ottawa.

Border blockades in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia ended earlier this week but police have not moved to clear the Ottawa demonstration until today. The blockade began Jan. 28 and has paralyzed large parts of downtown, with hundreds of trucks and vehicles blocking roads, many of them honking incessantly in what local residents have described as a tortuous ordeal.

Many businesses including the city's largest shopping mall have been closed since the start, and residents and workers say they have been harassed and sometimes physically assaulted for wearing masks in and around the protest.

The Emergencies Act and the enhanced powers are already in effect, including ability to freeze bank accounts of convoy members and ban the presence of public gatherings in specific zones including on Parliament Hill.

However both the House and Senate must confirm the decision to use the act.

The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois say they will not support the motion, but NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh signalled Wednesday his party will hold up the minority Liberals, calling the situation a crisis.

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