'People are pissed:' Ottawa police logs describe confrontational, abusive crowds during protest
CBC
Ottawa police officers assigned to work with the convoy protesters described abusive and confrontational — but also sometimes cooperative — crowds during last winter's blockades, according to their logs presented at the Emergencies Act inquiry.
Hundreds of pages of logs from the police liaison team were entered into evidence on Friday at the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is investigating the federal government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to clear the crowds.
The document includes the date and time of the record, the officer's last name and badge number and a brief summary of what each officer observed on a given day.
During the first weekend of the protest an officer advised that a police cruiser had been rammed by a protester near Elgin Street, according to the document. Their note said the driver refused to leave their car and police backup was needed.
The logs show a rift between protesters and police formed after the service announced plans to seize gas cans, propane tanks or fuel of any kind that the protesters were bringing into the downtown core.
"Word is spreading of the fuel cut off," reported an officer on Feb. 6. "People are pissed."
The officers took notes when their talks with those in the crowd turned aggressive.
"When we left we got challenged and told police have no rights to walk between vehicles by a young white male who was very confrontational," said an officer on Slater Street on Feb. 8
"Crowd had quickly formed and was agitated," said another log from the following day.
On Feb. 11 police reported that the crowd at the Wellington and O'Connor street intersection had "grown verbally abusive and was getting abusive."
One officer reported that it became hard to do their jobs.
"This time the crowd was bigger and would not allow anyone in and was no longer safe for any officer," said an entry from later that day.
The tone appeared to escalate after the Emergencies Act was invoked on Feb. 14.
Invoking the act gave authorities new powers, allowing them to freeze the finances of those connected to blockades and protests, ban travel to protest zones, prohibit people from bringing minors to unlawful assemblies and commandeer tow trucks.
Canada is preparing for U.S. President Donald Trump to hit the country with potentially devastating tariffs on Tuesday, but the federal government and the premiers say they are in the dark about what will actually materialize and how high those promised levies will be.
Former P.E.I. Premier Dennis King has been appointed as Canada's new ambassador to Ireland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday in a news release.
Oxford and Elgin counties have the highest number of measles cases in the country, the province's public health agency says, as local medical officials warn of more possible exposures to the deadly virus.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford will take questions from media Monday for the first time since his Progressive Conservatives won their third-straight majority in a snap election last week.
Newfoundland and Labrador is staring down federal, provincial, and municipal elections in the next eight months, but for one new Canadian the opportunity to vote is something she's not taking for granted.
Even with a dirt trench running down the hallway, and exposed wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling, it still kind of looks like an elementary school.
Some of the most affordable rental housing in Nova Scotia is rapidly becoming less so, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data analyzed by CBC News.
A two-time federal Conservative candidate in Miramichi says he doesn't think current party MP Jake Stewart can win again in a federal election that is expected to start within weeks.
Quebec municipalities and human rights groups are voicing concerns about proposed legislation that would require newcomers to abide by a set of common values.
Amazon and Walmart Canada have so far ignored the NDP government's requests to restrict the online sale of machetes to Manitobans, the province says.
Saskatoon city council is seeking money to crack down on unlicensed short-term rentals in the city, like those on AirBnB and VRBO, amid an active moratorium on licensing certain new short-term rentals.
When Kwaku Ayisi lost a friend who hadn't even reached 40 to breast cancer, it inspired him to look at the barriers Black women face in Saskatchewan's breast-health system.
A northern Alberta town is losing its only family doctor clinic and officials are trying to find solutions before the doors close for good at the end of May.