Ottawa police working with national security agencies as trucker convoy reaches capital
Global News
Ottawa police chief says “evolving nature” of convoy protest led him to bring in “significantly” more officers, “intelligence assets” ahead of planned demonstrations.
Ottawa’s police chief says the “evolving nature” of the convoy protest descending on the capital has led him to request a “significantly” larger presence of cops, national security officials and emergency services.
With thousands of protesters arriving in Ottawa Friday, Chief Peter Sloly told a news conference the demonstrations will be “unique, fluid, risky and significant.”
“The organizers have advised us that this will be a peaceful demonstration. They have confirmed that there will be a large number of trucks and participatnts, and that the main planned demonstrations will take place on Saturday and Sunday,” Sloly told reporters.
“With demonstrations of this scale, there are significant risks to be mitigated, but that we cannot fully eliminate.”
Sources tell Global News that federal national security officials have held multiple briefings with local law enforcement officials ahead of Saturday’s planned demonstrations, which are expected to include well-known white supremacist and far-right personalities.
While Sloly said Ottawa police have been in contact with the demonstrations’ main organizers, he warned police expect a number of “parallel demonstrators” that they have not been able to “engage fully with.”
“There are also social media actors locally, nationally and internationally. Actors who may or may not actually come to the city to participate in the demonstrations, but who are nonetheless inciting hate, violence and, in some cases, criminality to take place in our city,” Sloly said.
National security and law enforcement agencies have been at pains to remind Canadians that they do not investigate peaceful protests, or interrogate Canadians for exercising Charter-protected rights to demonstrate.
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