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Freedom Convoy leader Pat King was being taken into custody during a police crackdown in Ottawa, Canada, on Friday – and he wanted the world to witness it.
King, one of several high-profile leaders of the truckers movement that has swept across Canada and captured global attention, posted video on Facebook as officers came to arrest him.
“I am being arrested by these officers right now,” King says in the video, as an officer approaches. “I am being arrested. We’ll talk to you guys soon.”
Moments earlier, an officer announced his intentions.
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“You are under arrest, sir,” the officer said.
“For what?” King asked.
King writes in the caption accompanying the post that he was arrested for mischief, counseling to commit mischief, counseling to commit obstructing a police officer and counseling to disobey court orders.
“I’d like to get my lawyer on the phone right away. … I have the right to a lawyer?” King asks.
Pat King, Freedom Convoy organizer. (Fox News)
“Of course you do,” the officer responds.
The video soon cuts off.
King’s apparent arrest followed those of at least two other top organizers of the convoy.
Other leaders arrested
Previously, police arrested organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber on Thursday.
Barber was granted bail and released Friday night, on orders to leave Ottawa within 24 hours, the CBC reported.
Lich remained in custody. She had her Friday court hearing postponed until 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the report said.
Busloads of police officers had been transported Thursday to Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, where workers put up fencing to protect government buildings, The Associated Press reported.
On Friday, police in Canada’s capital city arrested about 100 demonstrators and towed away vehicles, with other trucks seen driving away amid the police show of force, the AP reported.
Most of those taken into custody were being held on mischief charges, the news service reported.
Earlier video
Earlier Friday, King had posted a separate video urging truckers to remain peaceful and reminding them that they were within their rights to demonstrate against coronavirus rules and other restrictions — as long as they did so lawfully.
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“I want to tell all the four-wheelers, all the four-wheelers right now: You guys are all good. You have the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of protest,” King says in the video. “You can go up to the Hill, and you guys can be on the Hill. The police officers are not going to stop you if you’re up there acting lawfully, under the Constitutional Act. You can be up there and still protest, guys. You are allowed to be up on the Hill, so I’m requesting everybody head up to the Hill and start doing your protest.”
Truckers have been protesting in Canada for about three weeks at numerous locations across the country, including a major stand last week at the Ambassador Bridge, a U.S.-Canada border crossing that connects Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
