{"id":91066,"date":"2022-01-31T14:34:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T19:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=91066"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:56:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:56:28","slug":"ottawa-mayor-says-ticketing-towing-protesters-could-incite-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/canada\/ottawa-mayor-says-ticketing-towing-protesters-could-incite-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa mayor says ticketing, towing protesters could incite them"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ottawa
Police officers on horseback ride on Sparks Street one block away from Wellington Street, where vehicles have been parked to protest COVID-19 rules, Jan. 31, 2022. (Daniel Bouchard\/Radio-Canada)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says the threat of violence has been too great to actively force convoy protesters, and their vehicles parked in and around downtown Ottawa, to leave.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Road closures and vehicle arrivals started Friday, swelling to an estimated crowd of 8,000 people Saturday, according to police. About\u00a03,000 people rallied around Parliament Hill Sunday, according to the city’s emergency and protective services manager.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Attitudes range from\u00a0the small percentage of\u00a0truckers\u00a0who don’t want to get\u00a0the two COVID-19 vaccine doses now required to cross the Canada-U.S. border, to people who want\u00a0all COVID-19 rules withdrawn and government leaders to resign, to people accused of\u00a0violence,\u00a0harassment,\u00a0racism\u00a0and\u00a0homophobia.<\/p>\n

The crowds and large vehicles have restricted access to downtown Ottawa, closing businesses,\u00a0service centres,\u00a0a COVID-19 vaccine clinic and an elementary school. Horns have honked\u00a0in protest for parts of four days over neighbourhoods where tens of thousands of people live.<\/p>\n

Some organizers say the goal is to\u00a0create a logistics nightmare for the government and force it to act. They haven’t said when the protest will end.<\/p>\n

On CBC Radio’s\u00a0Ottawa Morning,<\/em>\u00a0Watson\u00a0repeated his call\u00a0Monday for protesters to stop disrupting the city and go home,\u00a0but said the city is taking direction from police. Leadership has to weigh if stepping in will cause a “flare-up.”<\/p>\n

“The [police] chief\u00a0\u2026 has to assess almost on an hour-by-hour basis:\u00a0by intervening in this particular street or this particular area, is it going to cause more harm than good, and is it going to throw gas on a fire?” Watson said.<\/p>\n

“I know the public says, ‘Just get in there and ticket,’\u00a0but police officers are being swarmed\u00a0\u2026 We have to use judgment and common sense.”<\/p>\n

Ottawa police said Sunday\u00a0they had made one arrest and were investigating a number of incidents, including threatening behaviour,\u00a0public mischief\u00a0and dangerous operation of a vehicle.<\/p>\n

For protesters who want to leave the city, Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said officers want to help ensure they do it safely, and then see who lingers, and why.<\/p>\n

\"Protest
A man who removed the tires from a pickup truck stands in front of West Block on Parliament Hill as a rally against COVID-19 restrictions continues in Ottawa for a fourth day. (Patrick Doyle\/The Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Watson, who is not running for re-election this fall,\u00a0said he wants to know why the National War Memorial didn’t have more protection and how trucks were allowed to park in\u00a0residential areas.<\/p>\n

“I asked\u00a0\u2026 why you can’t start ticketing [on Queen Elizabeth Driveway], it’s far enough away. And they said they’d get on their CB [radio] and there would be another 20 truckers there smashing down the barricade.”<\/p>\n

‘Colossal amount of disrespect’<\/h2>\n

The president of the\u00a0Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association told\u00a0Ottawa Morning<\/em>\u00a0hotel staff were calling police “all the time”\u00a0about problems like violence and vandalism during a “brutal” weekend.<\/p>\n

“There’s a colossal amount of disrespect\u00a0from this group,” said Steve Ball.<\/p>\n

“There were some very good, compliant people \u2014 not so much on the [mask rules] \u2014 but those few that took it to the degree that they take it to caused some employees to go home, several hotels stopped selling reservations.”<\/p>\n

\"Ottawa-Milenio
In this photo taken using a drone, vehicles from the protest convoy are seen parked on the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway leading to downtown Ottawa on Sunday. (Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ball said verbal abuse of staff\u00a0happened at most local hotels over the weekend and\u00a0people who were not there for the protest\u00a0complained about noise,\u00a0parties and people being sick in the hallways.<\/p>\n

Asked about people from the protest staying into the week, Ball said\u00a0many protesters who checked out from hotels this past weekend had booked again for this\u00a0coming weekend.<\/p>\n

Premier’s 1st comment<\/h2>\n

Local politicians, including Conversative MPP Lisa MacLeod, are telling protesters to “please go home,” while the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford released its first public comment on the convoy on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

“The right to peaceful protest is core to our Canadian identity,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“I was extremely disturbed, however, to see some individuals desecrate our most sacred monuments and wave swastikas and other symbols of hate and intolerance this weekend. That has no place in Ontario or Canada. Not now. Not ever.”<\/p>\n

CBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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