Trucker convoy: Statement calls police fuel confiscation ‘inhumane’; 11th day marked by arrests

The “Freedom Convoy” that converged in Ottawa on Jan. 28 began in response to the federal government’s move to require that Canadian truck drivers crossing the U.S. border be fully vaccinated, but has evolved into a protest of all public health measures aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers say they will not end their protest until all measures are dropped. Most scientists and health experts say that vaccines, mask wearing, and physical distancing are the best ways to slow the spread of the virus and prevent serious illness and death.

What you need to know:

• Mayor Jim Watson has declared a state of emergency in Ottawa ahead of a special council meeting at 1 p.m. Monday to discuss the impact of the truck convoy on the city’s residents and businesses
• A bid by downtown residents for an injunction to silence the din of air horns also returns to court Monday afternoon
• Fuel is seized by police at the convoy’s Coventry Road staging area, according to media reports
• Ottawa police report arrests after announcing people providing fuel or other “material supports” to protesters could be subject to arrest with enforcement underway
• Transit detours, road and business closures in the core continue, including the Rideau Centre, which is closed with no reopening date given

12:03 p.m.

Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, rejected criticisms that officers were helping protesters with things like fuel deliveries.

“The officers in every demonstration of this nature are doing everything they’ve always done. They’re awaiting orders from the executive,” Skof said.

“There’s been no indication that officers are assisting. The officers are doing exactly what they’ve been directed to do by the police executive. They await their orders to either stop the transport of fuel or to engage proactively and remove the fuel from the locations that are storing it.”

On Sunday night, police moved in on the protesters’ logistics camp at the Ottawa Stadium parking lot on Coventry Road, targeting fuel supplies.

Skof said some officers are starting to experience exhaustion during an unprecedented response from the city’s police force.

“The staffing has always been an issue in Ottawa for many, many years and the police service was not equipped from the very beginning to handle something of this sustainability,” Skof said.

The lengthy protest will likely cause police executives to consider how to handle well-funded demonstrations in the future when large vehicles are involved, Skof said.

“The focus right now is not on the executive’s management of it. It’s sustainability and the members’ health,” Skof said.

10:46 a.m.

The driver of a heavy truck parked on Rideau Street on Monday said the protesters would remain defiant despite increased police efforts to confiscate fuel and make them uncomfortable.

“We’ve been uncomfortable for two years,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

As he spoke, trucks parked at the corner of Rideau and Sussex streets began honking. Locals had thanked the truckers for being there, the driver said. When this newspaper asked about the impact of the noise on local residents for more than a week, he acknowledged it caused a disturbance.

“I would be angry,” he said.

Christian, the driver of a truck that has been parked just east of the National War Memorial for 10 days, said protest supporters had taken to moving empty fuel containers to distract the police. He had enough fuel for three weeks and had no intention of leaving, he said.

“We’re going to win. People see what they are doing to Canadian citizens.”

A group of seven Sudbury police officers patrolled along Wellington Street as a collection of protesters hurled abuse at television journalists filming in front of West Block.

“You sold your soul to the devil,” one man yelled. “Tell the truth. You’re telling people lies. It’s all lies.”

Meanwhile, a joint statement issued on social media by Randy Hillier, independent MPP for Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, called on elected officials to have “meaningful dialogue.”

“The government’s decision to block refuelling of the trucks puts fellow Canadians and their families including their young children in danger due to the extreme cold temperatures currently occurring in Ottawa,” the statement said.

“Regardless where one stands on this topic, these actions are inhumane and do not align with Canadian principles.”

Hillier said that the statement came from “numerous groups and leadership” involved in the “Freedom Convoy,” but did not include the names of the people cited as defendants in a lawsuit lodged against organizers of the Freedom Convoy.

The statement said people across the country have gathered in Ottawa to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and protest “in unity, peace and love.”

The signatories said they’ve witnessed protesters feeding the homeless, safeguarding monuments and “assisting business owners with tidiness while providing patronage to their establishment” but “corporate media coverage of these events does not accurately depict what is transpiring.”

9:32 a.m.

Ottawa police have adopted a strategy of starving the convoy, seizing fuel from a staging area on Coventry Road on Sunday evening and warning anyone who provides material support to the demonstrators could face arrest.

Police raided a protest satellite camp in a parking lot on Coventry Road on Sunday evening, confiscating diesel fuel that was stashed there. They arrested several protesters who refused to show identification, protest organizers said on social media.

On Monday, at the satellite camp where several dozen trucks and RVs were parked, a protester with a radio refused to answer questions.

“Everything’s great here,” he said. “We’re totally self-sufficient. We’ve got our own media. No comment. Everything’s great.”

Ottawa police said Sunday that seven people had been arrested and 100 tickets issued related to demonstration enforcement as officers targeted fuel supplies to the convoy.

Two were arrested for mischief on Coventry Road, three others were arrested for mischief at Metcalfe and Slater streets, and two were arrested in the morning — one for driving while prohibited and the other for mischief related to property damage at a downtown business.

More than 100 Highway Traffic Act and provincial offence notices were issued, police said, for offences that included excessive honking, driving the wrong way, defective muffler, no seat belt, alcohol readily available and having the improper class of driving licence.

Police also said multiple vehicles and fuel had been seized, and that an encampment  at Confederation Park had been fully cleared and fenced.

9:30 a.m.

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca charged that Premier Doug Ford “has abandoned the people of Ottawa.

“I will not abandon the people of Ottawa,” he said at a press conference Monday morning, setting out three steps he argued Ford should take and that he would take if he were premier. A provincial election is scheduled for June 2.

The steps included declaring a provincial state of emergency, putting protest organizers on the hook for mounting policing costs, and having the province’s attorney general explain that prosecutors would use every tool, including forfeiture of property like trucks used in the commission of any serious crime.

“We all want this to end,” Del Duca said. “It should have ended before now. It’s time for these occupiers to go home. It is time for the people of Ottawa and the businesses in Ottawa to have the comfort and support to go back to some kind of normal, so they can go forward with their lives, to be safe once again in their own neighbourhoods, to be able to open their businesses.

“We need to send a clear, strong and decisive message,” Del Duca said. “Doug Ford has failed to do so up until this point.”

8:55 a.m.

In an interview on CTV Morning Live on Monday, Mayor Jim Watson called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to appoint a mediator in an effort to end the “Freedom Convoy” occupation in the city’s downtown.

Watson said he has suggested to federal ministers that a mediator could be “an honest broker on both sides to try to find some common ground, if that’s possible.”

“Someone of great stature in our community and the country who can actually open doors and bring some peace and calm to the situation,” Watson told CTV Morning Live.

“That’s one option that I think the federal government should pursue, because right now we’re at a complete standoff.”

8:42 a.m.

After a second weekend of chaos in the core, an Ontario court is scheduled to hear arguments in a proposed multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit by Ottawa residents who want protesters encamped in downtown to stop honking their horns.

Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean had set a 1 p.m. deadline to get all documents and cross-examinations done before he would rule on one part of the proposed class-action.

A group of downtown residents is asking for an injunction to prevent truckers parked on city streets from honking their horns repeatedly throughout the day.

Their lawyer, Paul Champ, says the honking is causing irreparable harm because of how loud and prolonged it has been.

Keith Wilson, who is representing three of the respondents in the case, told McLean the ruling on the injunction carried national importance.

The hearing comes as Ottawa police get ready to provide more details on a series of arrests and seizures related to what local officials have called an illegal occupation of the capital’s core.

The so-called Freedom Convoy has vowed to stay until all COVID-19 restrictions, mask and vaccination mandates are lifted.

Some local politicians have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a more active role in the situation. Trudeau’s itinerary says he is having private meetings Monday somewhere in the National Capital Region.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Sunday the province has given Ottawa everything the municipality has requested, and will continue to do so.

Ottawa police are expected Monday to provide updates on arrests and raids Sunday night where officers seized fuel and propane from protesters.

Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency on Sunday.

“Declaring a state of emergency reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” said a release from the city.

“It also provides greater flexibility within the municipal administration to enable the City of Ottawa to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders.”

Earlier in the day, Watson admitted the city was “outnumbered” and “losing the battle.”

PHOTOS: DAY 10 OF THE ANTI-VACCINE MANDATE PROTEST

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Traffic

The City of Ottawa warned that traffic delays and service impacts will continue Monday including detours of all buses with service downtown and the closures of Ottawa City Hall and its amenities and the Main and Rideau branches of the Ottawa Public Library. Ottawa Public Health’s Lowertown Vaccine Hub and the vaccination clinic at the University of Ottawa Minto Sports Complex remain closed.

Of the interprovincial crossings, the Macdonald-Cartier, Chaudière and Champlain bridges were open Monday morning. The southbound Alexandra Bridge was open until 10 a.m. with no heavy vehicles allowed but the bridge was closed northbound. The Portage Bridge was closed except to essential workers heading south.

READ PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE ANTI-VACCINE MANDATE PROTEST:

— With files from Megan Gillis, Matthew Lapierre, Jon Willing, The Canadian Press