Convoy protests: Police make arrests as crackdown on convoy continues; Parliament sittings cancelled due to protest
Police began their crackdown in downtown Ottawa as trucker-led convoy protesters continue to cause chaos in the city. Arrests were made on Thursday including convoy organizer Tamara Lich. Follow the Star's live coverage.
10:24 a.m. Protesters who are part of the convoy of trucks and other vehicles occupying Ottawa's downtown area don't appear to be in a hurry to leave. Occupiers can be seen dancing to music and enthusiastically waving Canadian flags in an intersection near Wellington Street.
9:38 a.m. (updated) Officials are warning Ottawa residents about commuting into the downtown core. LRT service has been paused with shuttle buses in operation, and access to the downtown area remains limited.
The OPP are informing drivers of ongoing road closures. A number of Highway 417 exits to downtown Ottawa are closed, including eastbound at Rochester, Kent, Metcalfe and Nicholas, and westbound at Bronson, Metcalfe, Nicholas and Vanier. The OPP say these closures are not checkpoints.
So far, the downtown streets are remarkably empty of people and other non-occupation vehicles. The majority of the people there are occupiers, police and journalists.
9:33 a.m. A line of police officers separate media from the convoy along Nicholas Street at the Mackenzie King Bridge in Ottawa. A heavy police presence is developing as more officers arrive. Some protesters are leaving willingly.
8:16 a.m. Ottawa police warned people on Friday about a large police presence on Nicholas Street. Protesters are being advised to leave immediately. Some protesters are surrendering and are being arrested. We ask protesters to remain peaceful and lawful," reads the tweet.
8:10 a.m. The lights on police vehicles are flickering in intersections across Ottawa's downtown core Friday morning.
Officers are checking every vehicle looking to get into the secure area that spans roughly four square kilometres. Officers from provincial, national and other municipal forces are policing the perimeter with about 100 checkpoints to keep out anyone intent on joining the protest.
Trucks are idling on the street in front of Parliament Hill as a bitter winter storm pummels the national capital, covering vehicles in snow and ice.
8 a.m. Ottawa police say Tamara Lich, a key organizer of the convoy protest that has seized the city for weeks, has a court appearance scheduled Friday.
Police say Lich, 49, from Medicine Hat, Alta., has been charged with counselling to commit mischief.
Police say they issued a notice to protesters Thursday advising that anyone blocking streets or helping others to block them is committing a criminal offence and could be arrested. Protesters were also told to cease unlawful activity or they would face charges or fines.
7:40 a.m. Both chambers of Canada's Parliament cancelled sittings Friday due to the ongoing police operation in Ottawa's downtown city core.
The Commons was set to continue a historic second day of debate on the proclamation of a public order emergency." But on the advice of parliamentary security, both the Senate and the Commons have suspended work Friday.
Ottawa police, bolstered by outside forces, set up more than 100 checkpoints around the city, trying to prevent additional protesters from joining the convoy protest over the long weekend.
Ramps and routes into downtown Ottawa were closed overnight, with checkpoints set up and slowing traffic into the area. Only those who live or work there are permitted into the massive secure zone.
Read the full story from the Star's Tonda MacCharles
6:55 a.m. The father of a man facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder says his son had become increasingly radicalized online before he was arrested and accused of plotting to kill police officers in connection with the border blockade in Coutts, Alta.
In an hour-long interview at the Lethbridge home they share, Mike Lysak described the frustration he says he's felt over the past two years watching his son, Chris, fall further and further into an online world of COVID-19 misinformation.
The Star spoke to Lysak and others connected to the arrests this week, in interviews that open a window into the journey that has led some of the accused to this point. Police have described the arrests as focusing on a small, organized group" engaged in dangerous criminal activity occurring away from the TV cameras" that could have been deadly for citizens, protesters and officers." Some of those interviewed called into question or outright rejected the RCMP's characterization of events.
Read the full story from the Star's Kieran Leavitt and Omar Mosleh
6:45 a.m. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is taking the federal government to court over what it calls an unprecedented" use of government powers by activating the Emergencies Act to end the protest that's been occupying downtown Ottawa for more than two weeks.
The CCLA argues that Ottawa has bypassed democratic norms in using the act to deal with the protest, and that the situation hasn't met the threshold needed to justify it, said spokesperson Abby Deshman. The association is now seeking to nullify the use of the act.
We believe the federal government invocation of these power is unlawful and unconstitutional," Deshman said Thursday.
Read the full story from the Star's Jeremy Nuttall and Tonda MacCharles
6:41 a.m. An Ottawa judge has frozen the bank accounts and digital wallets" of convoy leaders believed to hold more than $1 million in bitcoin and cryptocurrency after an extraordinary secret hearing.
Late Thursday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Calum MacLeod granted an injunction to a private citizens' effort to stanch the flow of money that was a lifeline for the 21-day occupation of Ottawa.
MacLeod issued the sweeping order freezing all the digital assets and bank accounts of convoy leaders, several of whom are directors of a corporation they created three weeks ago.
Read the full story from the Star's Tonda MacCharles
Friday 6 a.m. Ottawa is holding its collective breath as police appear ready to finally end the so called Freedom Convoy protest that has paralyzed a good chunk of the capital city's downtown core for the past three weeks.
With significantly bolstered ranks municipal, provincial and national police officers have established a perimeter with about 100 checkpoints covering Ottawa's downtown to keep out anyone intent on joining the protest this weekend.
They have also arrested a number people, including two organizers of the protest against COVID-19 public health measures. Tamara Lich was in custody Thursday night charged with counselling to commit mischief, while Chris Barber was also facing that charge along with charges of obstruction and counselling to commit obstruction.
As snow blanketed the city Thursday police spent much of the day going around warning protesters, once again, to pack up and pullout now, or else risk arrest and other tough sanctions.
But many demonstrators still refused to budge. And city residents, who have grown increasingly frustrated with their lives being upended by the protest, are now waiting to see if police will back up their words with action to take back the streets.
Thursday 10:40 p.m. Police in Ottawa have set up checkpoints throughout the downtown area to prevent protesters from entering the core of the capital.
Officers stationed throughout downtown can be seen peering into vehicle windows with their flashlights to ask travellers where they're headed.
Interim police Chief Steve Bell says only people who aren't protesting will be able to get downtown this weekend.
The police also appear to have shut down highway exits and light rail stops downtown.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Tamara Lich, one of the protest organizers, says she has been charged with one count of counselling mischief and was still in custody following her arrest earlier tonight.