Ottawa police are ticketing Freedom Convoy protesters, warning them to leave or face arrest



Canadian truckers and other Freedom Convoy demonstrators are being ticketed by Ottawa police and warned to leave downtown immediately or risk arrest after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seized emergency powers to end the vaccine mandate protest.

Authorities informed the truckers that they could lose their licenses and have their vehicles seized by the government under the Emergencies Act, which Trudeau invoked Monday.

As police handed out tickets, several protesters remained defiant, according to the Associated Press. Some truckers reportedly ripped up leaflets ordering them to leave. Others threw the warning in a toilet put out on the street, while still others remained in their trucks and continued to honk their horns.

"I will never go home!" one demonstrator shouted.

The protesters are reportedly preparing to be removed by force, but police have not indicated if or when they will take such action.

For three weeks now, the Freedom Convoy protesters have log-jammed downtown Ottawa with thousands of trucks, while elsewhere protesters have attempted to form blockades at border crossings between the U.S. and Canada. The movement began as a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed on truckers who cross the border for work but won broad support from those opposed to coronavirus restrictions generally and Trudeau's leadership the pandemic.

While the protests appear to be mostly peaceful, Ottawa residents have complained about being inconvenienced by the inability to access downtown, and some have reported they were harassed or intimidated by demonstrators.

Trudeau has called the protests "illegal" and variously referred to the demonstrators as racists, sexists, extremists, and fringe. After invoking emergency powers on Monday, Trudeau gave police greater authority to make arrests and impose fines on the protesters, whom he accused of engaging in "illegal and dangerous activities."

Authorities also claimed the power to have financial service providers seize funds donated to support the protests without a court order to do so.

With their enhanced powers, Ottawa police are reportedly "optimistic" they can regain control of downtown and remove the estimated 360 vehicles that remain, down from a high of about 4,000.

The police appear to be using the same tactics they used to clear the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan. Police there had distributed leaflets warning those participating in the blockade that they would be arrested unless they ceased and desisted.

Once enough of the protesters had left the area, police arrested those dozens that remained and cleared the blockade.

Trudeau invokes emergency powers to end Freedom Convoy protests



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday invoked rare emergency powers to end the Freedom Convoy trucker protests against vaccine mandates.

In Canada's capital, Ottawa, hundreds of truckers have entered their third week of protest against the government's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, occupying the city's downtown area. Elsewhere, protesters have blocked border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, demanding that Trudeau lift the vaccine requirements on truckers that cross the border, as well as other coronavirus restrictions.

Canadian authorities said Sunday they had arrested several people and towed a pair of pickup trucks that had been parked to block an intersection leading to Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan. In the province of Alberta, police arrested 11 people near a border crossing and found a cache of firearms and ammunition.

"This is not a peaceful protest," Trudeau declared at a press conference.

The prime minister announced that he has invoked the 1988 Emergencies Act, a law that permits the federal government to override the provinces and suspend certain civil liberties to protect national security during an emergency. Trudeau's powers under the act would enable him to prohibit public assembly, travel, and to mobilize government support for local police, according to Reuters.

"With each of the illegal blockades, local law enforcement agencies have been acting to keep the peace within their jurisdiction. Despite their best efforts, it is now clear there are serious challenges to law enforcement's ability to effectively enforce the law," Trudeau said.

"After discussing with cabinet and caucus, after consultation with premiers from all provinces and territories, after speaking with opposition leaders, the federal government has invoked the Emergencies Act to supplement provincial and territorial capacity to address the blockades and occupations," he announced.

The Emergencies Act has never been invoked by a Canadian prime minister. A previous version of the law called the War Measures Act was used during peacetime by Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who in 1970 used emergency powers to deal with a militant group of Quebec separatists who had kidnapped a British diplomat and then abducted a provincial cabinet minister who was later killed in captivity.

The law defines a national emergency as a temporary "urgent and critical situation" that "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it."

"I want to be very clear, the scope of these measures will be time-limited, geographically targeted, as well as reasonable and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address," Trudeau said.

CBC/Radio-Canada, a publicly funded news outlet, reported that Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has been in "daily" discussions with Trudeau's cabinet on using on the government's emergency powers. Blair said the government was "prepared to do everything necessary" to end the protests.

At the press conference, Trudeau outlined how the Emergency Act will be used to "get the situation under control."

The prime minister said that police will be given greater powers to impose fines on or imprison the protesters in Ottawa and at points of entry between the U.S. and Canada, accusing the demonstrations of engaging in "illegal and dangerous activities." Trudeau said the government will designate border crossings and airports, among other places, as "critical" to the Canadian economy and will protect those areas.

He added that the government will be empowered to tow vehicles blocking roads and that financial institutions would be empowered to block funding for the protests and will not need a court order to do so.

Trudeau deputy PM: \u201cFinancial service provider will be able to immediately freeze or suspend an account without a court order [if the person supports the truckers]. In doing so, they will be protected against civil liability for actions taken in good faith."pic.twitter.com/DFzWxkL0dL
— Tom Elliott (@Tom Elliott) 1644876037

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland explained that any trucker that's using their vehicle in the "illegal blockades" will have their corporate accounts frozen and the insurance on their truck suspended.

Canada's Deputy Prime Minister:\n\n"If your truck is being used in these illegal blockades, your corporate accounts will be frozen, the insurance on your vehicle will be suspended."pic.twitter.com/iv1K8VDhAL
— Greg Price (@Greg Price) 1644876043

"This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people's jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions," Trudeau said.

The prime minister emphasized that the government will not call in the military to end the protests.

"We're not using the Emergencies Act to call in the military. We're not suspending fundamental rights or overriding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are not limiting people's freedom of speech, we are not limiting freedom of peaceful assembly. We are not preventing people from exercising their right to protest legally. We are reinforcing the principles, values, and institutions that keep all Canadians free," Trudeau said.