I don’t know understand how this has been allowed to continue for so long but we’re on day SIXTEEN of Ottawa’s occupation. I’m not sure how much people from outside the area understand about what’s going on in the capital. The Ottawa Police force, who has been a disaster from day one of this occupation, say they need more resources to disperse the convoy while the Prime Minister counters, "I don't accept the contention that the city of Ottawa has exhausted its tools and its resources." In this city there’s a general belief, due to the police’s lack of enforcement, that they are in collusion with the occupiers. Whether this is true or not what most certainly is true is that Ottawa residents have been left to stand alone. 

 

The injunction to stop honking (which had previously been relentless at all times of day) is not longer being heeded by convoy members. The extreme noise is back distressing residents and the convoy’s idling trucks have dropped the city’s air quality into the toilet. A measure of one air pollutant hit a level more than fourteen times higher than the city’s average. We’ve also discovered that a quarter of trucks have kids in them so children of convoy members are also being subjected to a horrendous and potentially damaging level of noise and air pollution.

Counter protest in Ottawa today
 

There’s been an ongoing campaign of intimidation, harassment and assault waged on city residents, particularly those wearing masks, which has necessitated the financially devastating closure of countless downtown businesses for their employees’ safety. The estimated cost of the closure of the Rideau mall alone is now $40 million. 911 has at times been unreachable as the convoy flood the service with fake calls, leaving actual emergencies to go unanswered. When residents do get through, they are frequently met with paltry excuses instead of help. Many people able to leave their homes have abandoned them for the time being; others don't have anywhere else to retreat to. Response time for ambulances and fire trucks is woeful downtown where parked convoy vehicles block countless streets. It will be surprising if no one dies waiting for emergency services This situation has gone on far too long already and there’s no end in sight. We have no functional police force in Ottawa and have been let down by all levels of government except for a few treasured local politicians, among them Councillors Catherine McKenney and Shawn Menard, and Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden.

 

I’m posting an assortment of tweets from the past forty-eight hours that illustrate what the situation is currently like in Ottawa.




 
Trump 2024 flag carried by horseback rider in downtown Ottawa occupation.
Trump 2024 flag carried on horseback in Ottawa's occupation.

Things are deteriorating even further in occupied downtown Ottawa. The city councillors and MPPs doing safe community walks downtown three times a day to make people feel more secure announced they had to stop them today because of extremists in the area looking to commit violence.

Here are some links to video footage and photos documenting the local situation. 

 

The convoy chasing off Ottawa police in downtown Ottawa last night:

https://twitter.com/Gray_Mackenzie/status/1489964859450134528

A Trump 2024 flag being carried along a downtown Ottawa street by a man on horseback:

https://twitter.com/hsinskip/status/1489989417477496834

CTV news photos from the command centre the convoy has set up at the RCTG baseball field (which is also near the Tremblay LRT stop for the train station):

https://twitter.com/JCharronCTV/status/1489984829143891973

And this is from a few days ago, a Carleton Professor’s twitter thread with photos showing the extent of the convoy's organization and infrastructure installed downtown:

https://twitter.com/alexmcclelland/status/1489690231745953794
 

Yesterday evening I was on an Ottawa townhall Zoom session held by an Ottawa Centre MPP to discuss community safety and support needs. Near the beginning a racist a-hole jumped on the chat and entered a horrible racist message a dozen times while a black resident and activist was speaking. The entire chat feature had to be shut down. During the chat news also emerged of another downtown business that is shutting until at least next week (many of them including the entire Rideau Centre Mall and numerous restaurants have been closed for a week now because of similar issues) due to, "One of our staff was physically assaulted on their way to work today, blocked on the sidewalk by two men and shoved to the ground for wearing a mask."

Finally, on top of the horns the convoy have been honking all through the day and night as psychological torture for residents (you can hear it here https://twitter.com/glen_mcgregor/status/1488905393199890432), last night they added air ride sirens.

There is no sign of this ending yet. The building the convoy erected in Confederation Park (a makeshift kitchen to feed convoy members) across from City Hall on Thursday hasn't even been taken down yet. It's unbelievable. 

 

The convoy wants a coup d'état, their demands call for the Senate, Governor General, and convoy organizers to take control of our democratically elected government. There is no protest here in Ottawa. It's occupation, extortion, and attempted treason by white supremacists.

 

Ottawa residents demanding and end to the occupation of Ottawa
Ottawa residents demanding an end to the hostile occupation of their city. 





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