Police escalates actions against civil disobedience in Canada against Covid restrictions

|HT|

Police in Ottawa escalated its actions against the civil disobedience against Covid-related restrictions in the country, arresting nearly a hundred protesters on Friday, even as the country’s leading civil liberties organisation filed an application in a federal court seeking the emergency imposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be quashed. Canada’s capital looked like a war zone as riot police armed with batons along with armed and mounted units faced off against truckers who have been protesting in the city for the past three weeks.

The confrontation was largely peaceful, but the Ottawa police accused several protesters of “assaulting officers” and attempting to “remove officers’ weapons”, while protesters accused mounted police horses of trampling some of them with videos of mounted police charging at protesters going viral on social media.

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) refuted the accusation, saying, “Anyone who fell got up and walked away. We’re unaware of any injuries.”

Even as ranks of police, along with specialised units, flooded the city’s downtown area -- with reinforcements arriving even late into the evening -- the OPS continually urged protesters to clear the area, warning that “anyone within the unlawful protest site may be arrested”. This led some protesters to disperse on their own. Given the government rhetoric against the protesters, however, the charges against two principal organisers arrested on Thursday were surprisingly mild. Chris Barber, who was released on bail on the condition he leave Ottawa and the province of Ontario, was charged with mischief, disobey of court order and obstruction of police. Tamara Lich was also charged with mischief.

Another organiser B J Dichter said he had left Ottawa, saying in a post on Twitter that “de-escalation is important & to communicate it to law enforcement. I do not want my friends stuck in jail or other drivers to get injured.”

Prime Minister Trudeau’s office, in a statement on the meeting of the incident respond group, said it was “briefed on the comments made this afternoon by the Acting Chief of OPS who stated that the federal Emergencies Act along with provincial and city emergencies declarations gave police the tools to use new and existing powers to be able to properly deal with the demonstration to ultimately bring it to an end.” Meanwhile, the Emergencies Act, invoked on Monday, is being challenged by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). It said an application has been filed for “judicial review” in a federal court “requesting an order quashing the Emergency Proclamation and the Emergency Measures Regulations and the Emergency Economic Measures Order”.

Though the House of Commons has sat through several days while the protests were in progress, its session on Friday was cancelled even as imposition of the emergency was being debated.

Senior ministers continued to attack the agitation as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that Canada’s economy and democracy were “facing a serious and foreign funded threat”.

“These illegal blockades and occupations cannot be allowed to usurp the authority of democratically elected governments,” Freeland said. The leader of the opposition, Candice Bergen, said she was “disturbed” and “saddened” by what was being seen in Ottawa. “This situation was created by the PM & his desire to divide Canadians. It’s time for MPs to return to the House tomorrow to stop the overreach by this government & restore unity, wholeness & hope back to our nation,” she said on Twitter.

However, that may not happen, as the Hoise is unlikely to convene again till Monday with Trudeau’s office saying. “The group noted the situation in Ottawa resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of today’s sitting of the House of Commons and the extension of the adjournment period of the Senate of Canada until February 21 due to the ongoing enforcement operations.”

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)