Ottawa’s police chief has been forced to resign under intense pressure from authorities for not being tough enough in handling days of mass protests that have paralyzed the Canadian capital and prompted the government to invoke a state of emergency for the first time in half a century.
The Ottawa Police Services Board confirmed the resignation of Police Chief Peter Sloly on Tuesday.
Slowly said in a statement on Twitter that he was stepping down “with a heavy heart.”
“Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis,” he said.
“I am confident the Ottawa Police Service is now better positioned to end this occupation,” Slowly added.
Protesters have occupied parts of downtown Ottawa for almost 20 days and blocked US border crossings.
The “Freedom Convoy” protest, which began as a rally against vaccine requirements for truck drivers, has now grown into a widening movement as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refuses to engage with their demands.
Both Trudeau and the United States have called for an end to the protests, but hundreds of trucks are still blocking downtown areas and other cities across the country.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in trucks, tractors, cars, and on foot from the western province of Alberta, moving east to Quebec City, and in cities and towns in between, including Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, and Vancouver.
On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators from across France attempted to block traffic in the capital in a self-proclaimed “freedom convoy” of cars, trucks, and campervans. Hundreds of them continued on to Brussels on Sunday.
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act as a “last resort” on Monday amid the government’s efforts to demonize the protesters as thugs and violent fascists.
Trudeau’s move marks only the second time in Canadian history that such emergency powers have been invoked in peacetime.
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His father, Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was the first Canadian leader to put troops on the streets to crush a small militant group of Quebec separatists in October 1970.
Several provincial premiers denounced the use of emergency measures. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association accused the federal government of not having met the threshold for invoking the act.
One notable feature of the current government’s reaction is its effort to demonize the protest movement, describing it in such disparaging terms as disruptive, hateful, and thuggish even as the protests have been largely peaceful.
A day after Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, the truckers appeared undeterred. They hardened their stance by moving their big rigs into positions tougher to dislodge, with signs that read: “Hold the line.”
“Truckers are not going anywhere,” said one protester who gave his name only as Tyler, sitting at the wheel of his truck parked outside parliament.
