Police clear protesters from Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill, tow vehicles
The mood among the protesters was no longer joyful. “I love you, in case anything goes south,” one woman told a man. Police, too, appeared to adopt a different tone
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Police carrying batons pushed protesters off Wellington Street on Saturday morning, arresting some truck drivers who had been parked there for three weeks in protest of COVID-19 mandates.
Despite cries of, “Hold the line,” the line of police, which first extended outside the Château Laurier hotel, advanced just after 9 a.m. and moved a few hundred protesters back, past the National War Memorial, towards the vehicles on Wellington Street.
Demonstrators donned gas masks, N95s and wrapped their faces in scarves as several loud booms were heard. The Ottawa Police Service wrote in a tweet that officers were not using tear gas, but RCMP riot control units appeared to fire crowd-dispersal grenades and smoke filled the air. At least one person appeared to throw a makeshift smoke bomb or flare towards the police. That person was arrested.
“This is just the beginning of our movement, people,” one man yelled, urging protesters to push back against the police and beginning a chant of, “Freedom!”
The officers marched west towards the protesters, past trucks, pulling drivers from the vehicles and arresting them. Police also raided trailers the occupiers had used as supply depots and even sleeping quarters. About an hour into the police advance, tactical units had seized the territory at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Wellington Street, where a protester soundstage had hosted a three-week dance party. It was silent early Saturday.
The mood among the protesters was no longer joyful. “I love you, in case anything goes south,” one woman told a man. Three demonstrators stood holding peace signs in front of a defiant line of trucks whose horns honked occasionally.
Police, too, appeared to adopt a different tone. They advanced quickly and used pepper spray to clear space at the front of the crowd.
Some trucks west of Parliament Hill on Wellington Street were driven from the area Saturday morning as police advanced.
One woman urged truck drivers to head to Quebec City if they were forced to leave Ottawa. “There’s a big demonstration happening there today and it’s growing,” she said.
Dozens of protesters held their phones above the crowd, filming or live streaming as police moved in. RCMP and Ottawa police made up the front line of officers heading west on Wellington Street. They stared down demonstrators who sang O Canada, accused them of betraying their country, and chanted, “Shame.”
A second line of officers and mounted units then formed on Wellington near Bank Street, performing a pincer manoeuvre with police in riot gear funnelling protesters in both directions off Wellington towards O’Connor Street.
In the face of the unrelenting advance, the protesters gave ground and, by 11:30 a.m, had left Wellington and were mingling on O’Connor, where a crowd of a few hundred individuals faced off with officers who urged them to leave or face arrest.
Further south on O’Connor, Tom Hutar hurled abuse at a CBC reporter who was live on camera. “I’m just calling them propaganda,” Hutar said in an interview. “I’m just calling it out as I see it.”
From Midland, Ont., Hutar made the five-hour drive to Ottawa for each of the past three weekends. He said he felt mixed emotions as police routed protesters and began removing vehicles that had been left parked on Wellington Street.
“I’m scared, enthused, definitely not down. What a time to be alive,” he said, pointing to the line of police. “Well, what I’m feeling is, I guess it’s adrenaline. It’s something else.”
The police action prompted a call on social media from convoy organizers for the remaining truckers near Parliament Hill to move their vehicles. “The use of more force will only be used to punish people, and not preserve or establish order,” read a Facebook post on the Freedom Convoy 2022 group.
Trucks began filing out of the downtown core early Saturday afternoon. At the intersection of Metcalfe and Albert streets, a crowd of protesters who had been pushed off Wellington gathered and cheered as trucks marked with Canadian flags and signs decrying COVID-19 mandates left the area.
“Where am I going? I don’t know … maybe for a shower, then I’ll be back,” said the driver of one pickup truck laden with empty fuel containers. The man, who wore a “Make Canada Great Again” hat, received raucous applause as he honked his horn and drove west onto Albert Street.
The police push cleared the roadway in front of Parliament Hill of protesters and heavy tow trucks and front loaders equipped with forklift arms moved in just before 2 p.m. The tow trucks, which previously sat on Laurier Street near Ottawa City Hall, had their company logos covered or removed and some of their drivers wore face coverings. They towed and began removing vehicles parked on Wellington Street.
A group of several dozen protesters continued to face off with police at the intersection of Bank Street and Wellington for another hour until police pushed the protesters south on Bank Street and further west on Wellington towards Bay Street and the end of the area of downtown Ottawa that had been occupied for three weeks, but no longer was.
City crews moved in and began clearing garbage, tents debris left by the occupation on Wellington Street, city manager Kim Ayotte said during an afternoon media conference.
At the Coventry Road parking lot site, where a satellite camp associated with the “Freedom Convoy” has been parked for more than two weeks, no major police operation was taking place Saturday afternoon.
The parking lot appeared to have swelled with vehicles, some of them ostensibly from downtown. Some pickup trucks left the parking lot Friday, but the festival tents set up near the Courtyard by Marriott hotel remained standing and protesters carried in fuel from a nearby gas station.
As of midday Saturday, police had made 170 arrests since Thursday. The Ottawa Police Service also reported that 46 vehicles had been removed from the “secure zone” downtown since Friday, while 22 licence plates were also seized.
Meanwhile, as of 6 p.m. Saturday there was no information that children remained at the protest scene, said Kelly Raymond, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa. However, police are aware that children may be present and the situation is fluid and may change, she said.
The CASO and police have worked together to strategize a number of scenarios, Raymond said. Under the Child Youth Family Services Act, a police officer may act with the same authority as CAS. If a child become separated from a parent or a parent becomes unavailable — for example, if a parent is arrested — the child will be taken to a place of safety until another parent or a significant person for that child can be identified.
So far, that has not happened, Raymond said. Police have been working to persuade protesters with families to leave downtown Ottawa and have been very successful in doing so, she said. Families are always given the option of leaving, she added.
“We are imploring families to leave the scene. It is highly traumatic and highly stressful,” Raymond said.
Raymond could not say how many children had left the scene.
With files from Joanne Laucius
READ MORE COVERAGE OF THE ANTI-VACCINE MANDATE PROTEST IN DOWNTOWN OTTAWA
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- Federal government announces $20M fund to assist small Ottawa busniesses
- ‘Freedom Convoy’ leader says he just wants to go home after spending night in jail
- Gradual sweep of trucker occupation followed police blueprint on Friday
- Hospitals prepared to deal with patients from convoy protest
- Downtown residents, businesses hope police action helps restore ‘normalcy’
- The occupation of Ottawa: a timeline
- “Freedom Convoy” leader Pat King arrested live on social media
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