Second day of protests seize Ottawa, police investigating 'desecration' incidents

One day before Parliament is set to resume, Ottawa’s downtown core surrounding Parliament Hill remains nearly impassible due to the second day of the trucker convoy rally, as protesters, vehicles and trucks gridlock parts of the city.

The city was filled with the sound of honking for the second day in a row, and fireworks were let off as the evening progressed.

Ottawa Police said in a statement Sunday evening that the financial toll in policing costs alone is more than $800,000 per day.

“We have seen multiple cases of disruptive, inappropriate and threatening behaviour from demonstrators,” the statement read.

Earlier on Sunday, police said on Twitter that “several” criminal investigations are underway in relation to acts described by police as “desecration” to several monuments in the capital as well as “threatening/illegal/intimidating behaviour to police/city workers and other individuals and damage to a city vehicle.”

Police urged the public to report any incidents directly to the authorities.

In the Sunday evening update, police stated that people should avoid travel to the downtown core on Monday, adding that those who can work from home should do so if possible.

“If your children attend school in the downtown area, please check with them to see if the school is open tomorrow,” the statement said.

Catherine McKenney, a city councillor who represents Ottawa’s core, told the Canadian Press that the presence of the convoy has been hard on residents.

"I understand to a large extent why emergency services, police services both local and national, would not want to incite this crowd," McKenney said.

"However, at some point we need assurances that we're not going to allow our city and our downtown to be seized and to push out others and make people frightened to live and move about in their own neighbourhoods.”

Road and bridge closures left many scrambling for alternate routes to and from work, including health-care workers like Cindi Jacques, a hematologist.

“I needed to get here to see the patients who need me,” she told CTV National News. “The majority of patients who are hospitalized are cancer patients.”

In an earlier statement, police acknowledged that many residents are contacting police and City of Ottawa staff for complaints related to parking, noise and inappropriate behaviour.

“Police have avoided ticketing and towing vehicle so as not to instigate confrontations with demonstrators,” the Sunday evening update stated. “Still, confrontations and the need for de-escalation has regularly been required.

“Police are working with organizers to facilitate the safe departure of individuals and vehicles and to ensure safety.”

Crowds were smaller on Sunday than on Saturday, but how long the protestors will stay in Ottawa is unclear. One protestor said Sunday that he was “prepared to stay a month.”

Ottawa Police stated that they were “aware that many demonstrators have announced their intention to stay in place.

“This will continue to cause major traffic, noise and safety issues in the downtown core.”

According to the organizers running the “freedom convoy,” more demonstrations are planned for Monday. A schedule on the Canada Unity website states that speeches will be occurring in Confederation Park on Monday.

The website also called for around 1,000 people to join them on Monday at a shopping centre to attempt to shop without masks.

Despite the convoy’s continued presence in the capital, a spokesperson for Government House Leader Mark Holland’s office told CTV News that the House is still going to reconvene tomorrow.

“We have important work to accomplish for Canadians in Parliament, and we’re looking forward to getting this done and delivering results,” the statement said, adding that some MPs will be attending virtually.

As of Sunday, a few streets remain closed, with police working to facilitate traffic for residents and businesses, while some of the protesters' actions from Saturday have dominated social media and public discussion.

‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’ 

Protesters who jumped on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were unilaterally condemned by top defence officials, with Defence Minister Anita Anand calling their behaviour “beyond reprehensible.”

“I was deeply disturbed by the events yesterday at Parliament Hill and at the war memorial, I take very seriously... the fundamental values of democracy, freedom and freedom of the press…I believe we must show respect at all times to the individuals who died for our country,” Anand said at a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on Sunday. “I was deeply disturbed when I saw those images.”

The police statement said that national monuments would be protected and that barricades have been installed to prevent vehicle access to the path in front of the National War Memorial.

Flowers were seen placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Sunday. There also appeared to be urine on the base of the war memorial.

Others who adorned a statue commemorating Terry Fox with an upside-down Canadian flag and a sign opposing mandates, were called out by Ottawa mayor Jim Watson, who said their actions were “completely unacceptable.”

Ottawa Police confirmed Sunday that the incidents involving the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Terry Fox monument are being investigated.

Some protesters were seen carrying flags with hateful imagery scrawled on them such as a swastika. Several protesters carried large flags emblazoned with “F*** Trudeau” or wore or carried signs that featured a yellow star.

“My blood was boiling when you see swastikas and you see Confederate flags,” Watson said, adding that organizers should be condemning these type of actions.

Speaking on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said that “most credible trucking organizations have distanced themselves from this protest,” and that while the protest was going on there were vaccinated truckers doing their jobs delivering goods for Canadians.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance had previously estimated that only around 10 per cent of drivers were affected when vaccines became mandatory for drivers crossing the U.S. border.

And while Alghabra said he shared the frustrations about restrictions and wanted to see the end of the pandemic, he called some of the protesters' behaviour on Parliament Hill “alarming.”

“Some of the images and slogans we’re seeing …we have swastika flags, Confederate flags, and some are calling for the overthrow of the government…it is disturbing,” he said.

In a statement, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, a non-profit organization aimed at countering antisemitism, decried the hate symbols held by some at the protest.

“The use of Nazi symbols as a means to compare anything in our lives today here in Canada to the experience of Jews living under Nazi rule is a heinous form of Holocaust distortion,” the statement said.

HOMELESS SHELTER HARASSED

Elsewhere in the city, Shepherds of Good Hope, a shelter that works with vulnerable and homeless populations in Ottawa reported harassment by members of the convoy at a soup kitchen Saturday in a series of tweets.

They said the harassment “caused a significant strain to their operations at an already difficult time.”

The soup kitchen usually gives out around 400 meals a day to those who are in need.

In a statement released to media on Sunday, Shepherds of Good Hope said the “verbal harassment” and pressure from protesters seeking meals from the soup kitchen “continued for several hours” and that protesters' vehicles blocked their ambulance drop-off zone for approximately 12 hours before being towed.

"We did have people who came in and were demanding meals from the staff who were harassing both staff and volunteers,” Deirdre Freiheit, president and CEO of Shepherds of Good Hope, later told CTV News.

“They were blocking the lane that paramedics used to bring people to us for care, that could have cost somebody's life, and it's just been a very chaotic, stressful experience for everybody.”

The original statement said that one of the community members who was attempting to use the soup kitchen was assaulted by protesters and when a security guard, who is a member of a visible minority, attempted to help them, they “had racist abuse hurled at them.”

“Shepherds of Good Hope had no desire to comment on this protest. However, we felt compelled to correct disinformation on protest communications channels that we were ‘happy to feed the patriots.’ This was not the case,” the statement reads.

Later on Sunday afternoon the shelter said on Twitter that their website had been inundated with donations following the news of what occurred. 

“The community has been absolutely outstanding,” Freiheit said. “They have donated, they have asked how they can help.”

The trucker convoy’s GoFundMe page, which raised more than $8 million throughout the course of their journey, has listed an itinerary for Sunday which lists an 11 a.m. EST “Prayer for Unity Service” being held by Church of God Pastor Henry Hildebrandt at Parliament Hill, followed by a 1 p.m. EST press conference at an undisclosed location.

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier, who has been a steady presence at the protests, asked people to join the “PPC March to Parliament Hill” Sunday which began at 11 a.m. EST.

With files from CTVNews.ca's Rachel Aiello and the Canadian Press