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Police officers on Friday started moving in to break up the protest that has been going on in downtown Ottawa for 22 days.
Officers on horseback joined others on foot in the operation, which also involved an armoured truck and officers on rooftops.
“We’re in control of the situation on the ground and continue to push forward to clear our streets,” interim Ottawa police chief Steve Bell said during a media conference.
Protesters could be seen on TV creating a wall of snow to block roads as officers moved in. Cameras also showed demonstrators being arrested and others leaving the scene.
Reports on Thursday said Swift Current’s Chris Barber — one of the organizers of the convoy of trucks from Saskatchewan — had been arrested.
Just after 2 p.m., police revealed 70 people had been arrested during Friday’s operation.
“They have been charged with multiple various offences, including mischief,” Bell said. “We will run this operation 24 hours a day until the residents and community have their entire city back.”
A protester kneels in front of police officers on Rideau Street as they work to break up the truck blockade in Ottawa, on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Protesters gathered around the Rideau Centre shopping mall and nearby Parliament Hill on Friday were being boxed in by advancing officers.
Protest organizer Benjamin Dichter took to Twitter saying it was time for protesters to leave.
Some protesters could be seen packing their bags into the backs of their pickups, but others told reporters they were blocked in by rows of semis on Wellington Street and couldn’t get out if they wanted to.
Tow trucks had been deployed to remove some of the semis that were blocking streets in downtown Ottawa.
The police operation comes four days after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, giving police forces more powers to deal with the protests.
Both the House of Commons and Senate cancelled their sittings Friday due to the police action outside. The Senate on Friday was to begin debating the use of the Emergencies Act.
There have been protests across the country in support of the demonstration in Ottawa, with several Canada-U.S. border crossings blocked by truckers and others who were protesting cross-border vaccine mandates.
— With files from The Canadian Press