One of the organizers of a planned motorcycle convoy warned of “free for all” on Friday if Ottawa police do not allow hundreds of protesters to bring their bicycles to the streets around Parliament Hill.
The Rolling Thunder Ottawa convoy plans to tour the center next weekend, with a stop planned at the National War Memorial.
But after the Freedom Convoy protest blocked city streets three weeks earlier this year, police said they would not allow any vehicles into the area around Parliament Hill.
Read more: Ottawa police prepare for new convoy protest, bans downtown vehicles
“We will not allow dangerous or illegal conditions that could lead to a new protest, as seen in February,” interim police chief Steve Bell told a local police board on Monday afternoon.
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Ottawa Police said the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and other city police departments will send staff to help enforce the new rules.
They also said they had approached the organizers of the motorcycle convoys to find out their plans.
Rolling Thunder organizer Neil Sheard, who took part in protests against the restrictions on COVID-19, said in a video on YouTube that without a route to follow, there would be a safety problem.
“Thousands of people come to the city. There may be over a thousand bicycles coming to your city. We had a nailed route, “Sheard said in a video released Sunday.
“It will now be free for everyone.”
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He warned Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson that the safety of motorcyclists and Ottawa citizens was at stake. He also said he expected the protest to be peaceful and dignified.
Police are warning the public to prepare for the possibility of a traffic disruption next weekend, but have not yet told people to avoid walking downtown.
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Ottawa center councilor Catherine McKenney said the convoy should not stop or stay in the central neighborhoods after Ottawa fell into lawlessness during the previous protest.
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“I will not terrorize our community again. I do not want our children, the elderly and other vulnerable people to be traumatized again. “Our businesses should not be forced to close again,” McKenney said on Twitter on Monday.
Bell said police were “significantly concerned” that not all members of the convoy would follow the organizer’s plans and were prepared for the possibility of protesters trying to dig in for days or weeks, as they did in February.
“Our planning response is designed specifically to make sure this doesn’t happen,” Bell told reporters Monday.
The group was not clear about the cause they were gathering for, except to be in Ottawa to “celebrate our freedom peacefully.”
Bell said it was extremely challenging to determine exactly why the crowds were coming, especially with such a large and diverse group.
The group says it hopes veterans, who they say were forced to leave the cenotaph by police during the freedom convoy, will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial this weekend.
War memorials and cenotaphs are important symbols of the service and sacrifice of Canadian veterans, said Dion Edmunds, director of marketing and communications for the Royal Canadian Legion.
“The Legion defends these sacred places of remembrance and says they are never used as a backdrop for any agenda other than the act of remembrance,” he said.
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The Legion calls on all who gather in front of the National War Memorial this weekend to do so with a purely commemorative focus.
The participating organizations appear to have links to the convoy’s demonstration earlier this year, which protested against COVID-19 restrictions and demanded the resignation of the liberal government.
The Rolling Thunder Ottawa website says it has partnered with Veterans for Freedom and Freedom Fighters Canada.
Veterans for Freedom describes itself on its website as a group of Canadian veterans working to “restore fundamental freedoms for all Canadians” and “uphold Canadian law.”
All members of the group’s steering committee have links to earlier protests, including one who was among the convoy’s spokesmen. Others have appeared in YouTube videos supporting the convoy protesters.
The Freedom Fighters Canada website says it is an organization that “requires the end of all government mandates” and the end of “tyrannical legislation.”
“Our government has exceeded its borders, we are here to put them back in place,” the website said.
Some of its organizers also attended or publicly supported previous protests.
Rolling Thunder Ottawa is scheduled to hold a rally and afterparty on Parliament Hill on Friday, followed by a convoy through the streets of downtown Ottawa on Saturday.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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