More than 100 Protesters Arrested in Ottawa, Despite Claims in Facebook Video

Quick Take 

More than 100 people were arrested during the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. But a video on social media falsely claimed protesters were released “in the middle of nowhere” because the arrests were “illegal.” An associate professor of law who observed the protests said that “police had the authority to arrest and charge everyone in the illegal gathering.”

Full Story 

For four weeks in Ottawa, Ontario, the so-called Freedom Convoy, involving hundreds of trucks and passenger vehicles, held a series of protests against Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions. 

Participants in the convoy, which departed Kingston, Ontario, on Jan. 22 before arriving in Ottawa for planned demonstrations on the weekend of Jan. 29, blocked access to streets in Canada’s capital.  

On Feb. 14, in response to the protests, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act, a federal statute established in 1988 but never used before. The act authorizes “the taking of special temporary measures to ensure safety and security during national emergencies.” 

Trudeau said the “measures will be time-limited, geographically targeted and proportionate to the threats they are meant to address.”