Ottawa Declares State of Emergency; Reports of Police Arresting Truckers, Seizing Fuel

The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, has now declared a state of emergency in the Canadian capital over the Freedom Convoy trucker protest that has been occupying the city.

Watson declared the protest a “serious danger and threat” in a formal statement.

Mayor @JimWatsonOttawa declares a formal state of emergency pic.twitter.com/eKQq7NHlS0

— David Cochrane (@DavidWCochrane) February 6, 2022

“Declaring a state of emergency reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” the city said in a statement.

The statement went on to explain that the emergency declaration offers the city greater flexibility “to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders.”

This is apparently what they’re afraid of.

Stop the madness in Ottawa – these truckers are out of control! pic.twitter.com/IbapTvfb4a

— Truckistan Amb. Poso 🏁 (@JackPosobiec) February 6, 2022

Freedom Convoy supporters dance to “We Are Family” at Parliament Hill.

Footage by @PuffinsPictures pic.twitter.com/ga4lo2CDew

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 6, 2022

This is beautiful:

Sunday morning church service in Ottawa.

SO VIOLENT!pic.twitter.com/ZR6XNh9PKA

— Suburban Black Man 🇺🇸 (@goodblackdude) February 6, 2022

Unlike the BLM or Occupy, there are no rape tents; there’s no burning and smashing of property. So naturally, the government supports BLM, but they don’t support this. Justin Trudeau knelt with the BLM; he falsely calls these people racists.

It’s been so inspiring, it’s spread to other cities like Toronto as well, where you have similar scenes of people coming out.

😂🤣 90s wedding disco bhangra is a perfect anthem for joy and freedom! @PanjabiMC1 #mundiya #chakde Trucker Morcha Zindabad! https://t.co/otSPOmHCjC

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) February 6, 2022

In these protests, you can see something that has been missing from the world for a while with the oppression of the government over the pandemic — that’s joy and celebration. People celebrating and championing freedom, the way all the world wants to. It’s this that has been so little valued by those in power the last couple of years. It’s this that they have so abused for their own power and purposes.

But the government is now trying to drop the hammer on the joy. The Ottawa Police announced that anyone providing “material supports” to the protesters, such as “gas, etc.,” could be subject to arrest, as we reported earlier.

IMPORTANT: Anyone attempting to bring material supports (gas, etc.) to the demonstrators could be subject to arrest. Enforcement is underway. #ottawa #ottnews pic.twitter.com/tp4e5d2xe1

— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 6, 2022

This is of questionable legality, I’m not sure what law they think prevents people from bringing people “support,” but theoretically this statement could apply to anything, even food as well, not just gas.

I just called the Ottawa police media relations and they said they aren’t aware of this tweet and would not provide me with a law that could lead to an arrest on these grounds.

The police personnel then hung up the phone. https://t.co/QQs6RVOwDt

— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) February 6, 2022

Now, there are reports that the police are arresting people.

Ottawa Police are now carrying out mass arrests of the truckers.

But the truckers are peaceful. Horn-honking isn't a crime.

They embarrassed Trudeau — that's their real crime.

We're crowdfunding lawyers for EVERY TRUCKER.

Go to https://t.co/sD1SyFpAKB to help us. (Thanks.) https://t.co/5ekMNgrHbD

— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) February 7, 2022

They are seizing fuel from people who are trying to bring it to the protesters. They’re very heavily outfitted like SWAT or terrorism officers.

Update: no dismantling of Convoy protest camp east of downtown Ottawa. But propane/ gas has been seized. Supplies to truckers downtown disrupted https://t.co/G9wL47vBkf

— Judy Trinh (@judyatrinh) February 7, 2022

A citizen journalist sent me this video that seems to show police seizing fuel from truckers. More reports to come — I’m on the streets right now.#TruckerConvoy https://t.co/8hpC710hZK pic.twitter.com/5PEwZcTRq6

— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) February 6, 2022