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An unprecedented operation was launched by Canadian police on Friday morning to remove protesters and their trucks that have been blocking the streets of Ottawa for weeks.
Local media broadcast images of many arrests made without incident. A portion of the protesters, however, remained in the city defying orders to leave.
Ottawa police on Friday confirmed the arrests of two protest organizers, Tamara Leach, 49, and Christopher Barber, 46.
handcuffed inside a patrol car, shouting at her comrades “Hold on”.
In a tweet Friday morning, Ottawa police warned protesters that under state and federal law, they would face severe sanctions if they did not stop further illegal activities and did not immediately remove their vehicles from all illegal protest sites. The House of Commons and the Senate of Canada canceled Friday's sittings due to police raids on parliament buildings. on Thursday, in an effort to clear the area of protesters.
During the night, police forces reinforced the perimeter in the core of the city center, which includes checkpoints on highway ramps and side streets.
The secured area would ensure that those who want to enter for ” “Illegal speech, such as participating in a demonstration, can not enter the core of the city center,” according to Ottawa Interim Police Chief Steve Bell.
With nearly 100 checkpoints, the perimeter covers most of downtown Ottawa and is much larger than the protest mark to date.
Prime Minister Justin Trinto defended his decision to invoke the emergency measures law to end the protests during a speech to parliament on Thursday.
“These illegal blockades are strongly supported by individuals in the United States and elsewhere around the world,” Trinto said. “We see that about half of the funding that flows into the roadblocks here comes from the United States. “The purpose of all the measures, including the financial measures provided for in the Emergency Measures Act, is to address this threat and bring the situation under full control,” he said.”Blockades and squatting pose a threat to our economy and our relations with our trading partners,” he said.
Source: cnn.gr
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