A Quebec police officer testified that protesters at the Freedom Convoy demonstrations in Ottawa refused to leave as police officers attempted to remove them. The officer, Captain Etienne Martel with Sûreté du Québec, stated in court on Sept. 18 that the heavy presence of demonstrators prevented the police from moving forward.
Captain Martel was the commander of a squad of 45 to 50 police officers deployed to Ottawa to end the demonstration. The protest initially started as truck drivers opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by the federal government at the Canada-U.S. border. It later escalated into three weeks of large-scale protests in downtown Ottawa against pandemic restrictions and mandates.
In response to the demonstrations, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, granting expanded powers to end the protest. On Feb. 17, a large police operation began to clear out the remaining protesters from downtown Ottawa. Two prominent organizers of the Freedom Convoy protest, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, were charged with various offenses including mischief, intimidation, and obstructing police.
The Crown prosecution is trying to establish that Lich and Barber influenced the protest and encouraged protesters to dig in and refuse to leave. Captain Martel testified that when his squad arrived, they were placed 15 feet from the “front line” established by other police officers. Over the course of many hours, the police were able to advance approximately 150 meters due to the protesters’ refusal to move.
On the following day, the police continued to advance against the protesters, pushing them towards Wellington Street in front of the Parliament building. The narrower street allowed the police to advance more quickly, but their movements were disrupted by a snowbank barrier created by the protesters. Video footage shown in court depicted Captain Martel’s squad pushing against demonstrators while they chanted slogans such as “hold the line” and “freedom.”
These testimonies and evidence aim to demonstrate the protesters’ resistance to police efforts to remove them during the Freedom Convoy demonstrations in Ottawa.