Ottawa — The ranks of protesters are swelling here in Ottawa today, as Canadians from across the country begin to pour in for the fourth weekend of demonstrations that first took root in the city in late January. The weekends typically take on the air of a music festival, but there’s a new tension in the crowds in the face of a noticeable police buildup over the course of the last 24 hours.
Groups of police officers now patrol the encampments, rarely stopping to interact with the protesters themselves. They’re greeted by a generally friendly crowd; despite an overcast sky and light rain, the feeling on the ground remains festive, as attendees by the main stage dance to music and makeshift concession stands nearby serve food and hot coffee. But the new law-enforcement presence here — which seems to grow larger by the hour, as busloads of officers roll in and stage around the perimeter of the convoy — occurs against the backdrop of heightened tensions between the anti-mandate protest movement and local and federal officials.
Earlier this week, Justin Trudeau took the unprecedented step of invoking the 1988 Emergency Act, which gives his government sweeping power to act aggressively against the convoy, including freezing the bank accounts of those involved in backing and organizing the truckers. The Trudeau government’s rhetoric has taken a more aggressive turn, too, as the prime minister labeled the protests “a threat to our democracy” in a letter to province leaders late Wednesday night. In an interview with CTV News that same night, Trudeau’s justice minister said that those who donated to the convoy “ought to be worried” about the possibility of a freeze on their bank accounts, and compared their support to “terrorist financing.” At least one young woman has already been fired from her job in the Ontario provincial government after an illegal hack revealed that she donated $100 to the truckers earlier this month.
That aggressive messaging was also echoed by the Ottawa police, who handed out flyers around the convoy yesterday declaring the gathering illegal and threatening to start making arrests. “Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in the blocking streets are [sic] committing a criminal offense and you may be arrested,” the flyers read. “You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you will face charges.”
As of now, police have yet to act on those threats. Last night, a small group of officers entered the convoy to tell one encampment to put out a fire. After the fire was extinguished, they left. Truckers and protesters that I speak with on the ground routinely dismiss the growing police presence as a “scare tactic,” and seem determined to stay until their demands are met. There’s a growing unease, particularly as officers in riot gear continue to flow into the city. But the growth in police is still outmatched by the growth in protesters arriving for the weekend. “If they want to move in, it’ll have to be in the next 24 hours — less than 24 hours,” Russ, a trucker from Toronto, told me. “Otherwise, they’ll have to wait until after the weekend.”