Ottawa crackdown: police arrest 100 after 3-week protest
Source: Associated Press
Ottawa crackdown: police arrest 100 after 3-week protest
By ROB GILLIES, WILSON RING and ROBERT BUMSTED
February 18, 2022
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Police arrested scores of demonstrators and towed away vehicles Friday in Canada’s besieged capital, and a stream of trucks started leaving under the pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.
By evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and nearly two dozen vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, authorities said. One officer had a minor injury, but no protesters were hurt, interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said.
Police “continue to push forward to take control of our streets,” he said, adding: “We will work day and night until this is completed.”
Those arrested included four protest leaders. One received bail while the others remained jailed.
The crackdown on the self-styled Freedom Convoy began in the morning, when hundreds of police, some in riot gear and some carrying automatic weapons, descended into the protest zone and began leading demonstrators away in handcuffs through the snowy streets as holdout truckers blared their horns.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/canada-truck-blockade-protest-coronavirus-police-1f2c87b2c31fef9cdce65449a0035334
Protesters react as Toronto Police mounted unit move in to disperse them as police take action to put an end to a protest, which started in opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccine mandates and grew into a broader anti-government demonstration and occupation, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, in Ottawa. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
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