RTFri, 18 Feb 2022 03:40 UTC
© AFP / Scott Olson; Getty Images North AmericaPolice patrol through a demonstration organized by truck drivers opposing vaccine mandates on February 17, 2022 in Ottawa, Ontario.
Ottawa Police arrested at least two top organizers behind the Freedom Convoy protests against Covid-19 restrictions on Thursday, as the Canadian government continues its attempts to shut down the demonstration.
Organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were arrested after Ottawa Police received emergency powers and worked to shut the protests in Canada's capital down.
Footage showed organizer Chris Barber being arrested by police as he walked down the street before he was placed into a police vehicle and driven away. Organizer Tamara Lich was also arrested later in the day. The charges against the two organizers are currently unknown.
Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell had
warned on Thursday that a crackdown on protesters was "imminent."
"To those in the protest, if you want to leave under your own terms now is the time to do it," Bell said, threatening to "employ lawful techniques to remove the unlawful protesters."Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers on Monday to end the protests, freezing bank accounts associated with the demonstration and even
threatening to take away the pets of those involved.
"We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue," Trudeau said.
The Canadian government has
accused the protesters of trying to overthrow the government and has sought to brand the truckers - who started protesting in Ottawa last month over Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates - as far-right extremists.
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Last night, Lich posted a message to social media where she appeared to accept that she would soon be arrested.
"There's a pretty good chance — well I think it's inevitable at this point — but, uh, I'll probably be going somewhere tomorrow [Thursday] where I'll be getting three square meals a day. And that's OK,' Lich said.
"I'm OK with that. And I want you to know that I am not afraid," she added.
Another convoy organizer, Chris Barber, was also arrested tonight.
Lich is the Métis organizer of the original GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for the trucker convoy that travelled to Ottawa to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers.
After astonishing support, both financially through crowdfunding and physically through support from those who turned out along overpasses to wave Canadian flags, the movement spiralled into a more broad protest against COVID restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Recently, Lich had been in discussions with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. Coming to terms through negotiations brokered by Dean French, the former chief of staff to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a deal was struck between convoy organizers and the city that resulted in numerous trucks leaving residential areas.
French explained his decision to mediate between the City of Ottawa officials and Freedom Convoy organizers in a column published by the National Post tonight, citing former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford as his reason for meeting with Mayor Watson.
Peckford is currently suing the Canadian government over its mandatory vaccine requirement for air travellers, and had a lengthy conversation last month with Ezra Levant about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Peckford is the last living premier to have signed the document.
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