Cleanup crews replace protesters in downtown Ottawa as heavy police presence remains | CBC News:
February 20, 2022 - "The snowy streets of downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill remain off-limits for the near future as Ottawa police say they're working to ensure no further protesters return. Police officers and City of Ottawa cleanup crews are the few people who remain in front of Parliament Hill on Wellington Street, where thousands of demonstrators rallying against COVID-19 mandates occupied the streets for more than three weeks.... [I]nterim Ottawa police Chief Steve Bell said at a news conference Sunday afternoon ... police will figure out how to maintain a presence in the downtown core 'to make sure that nobody returns to occupy our streets again.'
"On Monday morning, police sent out social media reports advising people only parliamentary employees would be permitted north of Sparks Street between Elgin Street and Bay Street. Wellington Street, once the focal point of the protest, is closed to all traffic. There are approximately 100 police checkpoints surrounding the secured downtown area. Police say they are asking people for their reason for travelling within the area.... Bell did not say when downtown roads would reopen to residents or whether vehicle traffic would be barred from Wellington Street indefinitely.
"By Sunday morning, officers had fenced off the area immediately surrounding the Parliamentary Precinct, where protesters had been entrenched since late January, until a series of police advances throughout the day Saturday pushed the crowd first west, then south, away from Parliament Hill. Late last week, they set up a secure area stretching from Bronson Avenue to the Rideau Canal, and from the Queensway to Parliament Hill. Police continue to tell people to avoid the downtown core....
"By Sunday afternoon, police announced they had made 191 arrests and laid 389 charges against 103 people. The charges include obstructing police, disobeying a court order, mischief, assault, possessing a weapon and assaulting a police officer. Bell said in one instance, a protester tried to take an officer's Taser. Eighty-nine people arrested had been released on bail.... Police also towed 79 vehicles related to the protest. The vehicles include heavy trucks, pickup trucks and cars. Twelve Ontario licence plates and 24 out-of-province plates have also been seized, said Chris Harkins, deputy commissioner for the Ontario Provincial Police. Harkins said Sunday that the Ministry of Transportation had also taken action against 36 commercial vehicles.... The RCMP says to date, 206 personal and corporate bank accounts have been frozen.
"'We're hearing very clearly from the law enforcement community that the tools they had available to them were insufficient to respond,' Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told CBC News earlier in the day. 'We provided additional supports, and it's having the positive effect of bringing this matter to a peaceful end.' But there are questions about whether the measures taken by police have been truly peaceful, with officers in riot gear using batons and anti-riot weapons to disperse the crowds — prompting Ontario's police watchdog to get involved.
"On Saturday, officers, including members of the Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Quebec, Toronto's public order unit and Durham Region in Ontario, began using pepper spray at about noon in response to what the Ottawa Police Service called 'assaultive behaviour' from protesters. By about 7:30 p.m., Ottawa police said officers were using 'mid-range impact weapons' in response to assaults from protesters. On Sunday, the Special Investigations Unit said it was investigating two incidents that occurred on Friday and Saturday, when officers were clearing the streets. One involved a 49-year-old woman who reported a serious injury after an interaction with a Toronto police officer on horseback, and the other stems from officers discharging Anti-Riot Weapon Enfields at people near Sparks Street and Bank Street....
"Police action downtown convinced at least some protesters at the other major protest site — the semi-permanent camp at the Coventry Road parking lot — to pack up and leave. Tents and other structures at the site were dismantled over the course of several hours on Saturday afternoon, despite no visible police presence in the area....
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/downtown-ottawa-streets-protests-police-1.6358396
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