'Carnival of chaos': Ottawa police face growing flak for failure to end protests

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

‘Carnival of chaos’: Ottawa police face growing flak for failure to end protests

Failure to prevent protests initially, and to rid the city of the trucks over three weeks have baffled and angered residents

Leyland Cecco and Tracey Lindeman in Ottawa
Wed 16 Feb 2022 18.42 GMT

Police in Ottawa have warned they will begin breaking up blockades that have gridlocked traffic, angered residents and plunged Canada’s capital into a crisis that has rippled throughout the country.

For 20 days, protesters and large semi-trucks have blockaded sections of downtown Ottawa, including Parliament Hill, the seat of the country’s government. The protests, which began as a demonstration against public health measures including vaccine mandates, have morphed into a broader anti-government movement as more fringe elements, including far-right and nationalist groups, became a growing presence.

On Wednesday, officers began handing out leaflets warning protesters to leave the area immediately or face the possible loss of their vehicle licenses.

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But the police’s failure to prevent the protests in the beginning, and then to rid the city of the trucks over a three-week period, has baffled and angered residents of Ottawa and onlookers across Canada.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/16/ottawa-protests-police-face-pressure-over-response

[SheltieLover]

1. Baffles me, too, almost as much as tfg still not behind bars

And such light sentences for insurrectionists.

Coddling only serves to embolden them as we see daily.

[canuckledragger]

2. They don't want to upset their friends and drinking buddies

By arresting them.

[uponit7771]

3. +1, I'm seeing the same thread of thinking here in the US.

[cadoman]

4. anyone complaining is grossly underestimating the logistics of dislodging those trucks

The personnel aren't available because they're largely on strike.

The necessary equipment isn't available because it's largely owned by the persons on strike.

Even if the personnel and equipment _were_ available, it would be a monumental task as each truck is like a small natural disaster in the street. Workers moving the trucks won't have any knowledge of what has been done to the truck, whether it's been disabled or trapped, etc. They'll also have to work with protesters and strikers around them, likely harassing them and encouraging them to not scab.

Because Trudeau played so many cards (vax mandate, vax passport, movement restrictions, bank confiscation, etc.), the truckers feel like they have nothing left to lose. They are likely unwilling to work under the circumstances as proscribed by Trudeau, and view this as a final stand. It is very hard to outwill people who feel they have nothing left to lose.

IMO Trudeau's best card would be to pretend to roll over and give up on the mandates. That puts the pressure on the truckers to go home, and critically, to pack up their own trucks. When the truckers are home, enjoying their perceived victory, coordinate with UN and US military to do a mass strike arrest under emergency powers. After the truckers have been arrested, bring in immigrants and truck automation systems to replace them. Finally, the mandates can be reinstated and we can continue the work of ending the pandemic through the science of mandatory vaccination and masking, without the yoke of racism the truckers had us under.