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Ottawa police are handing out fliers to Freedom Convoy truckers in the city demanding they leave the area immediately.
“You must leave the area now. Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in blocking streets, are committing a criminal offence and you may be arrested. You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you will face charges,” the flier, obtained by Fox News, reads.
“The people of Ottawa are being denied the lawful use, enjoyment and operation of their property and you are causing businesses to close. That is mischief under the Criminal Code.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act this week, which gives power to the Canadian government to prohibit public assembly, restrict travel and requires businesses such as tow companies to act on the government’s demands.
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 07: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference on March 7, 2019 in Ottawa, Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau and top aides have been accused of meddling in a federal criminal investigation of SNC-Lavalin, a major Candian engineering firm. (Photo by Dave Chan/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dave Chan/Getty Images)
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The flier noted that under the Emergencies Act, “anyone coming to Ottawa for the purpose of joining the ongoing demonstration is breaking the law. The act also provides police with a number of measures including the ability to seize vehicles that are part of this demonstration.”
Protestors who block sidewalks, roads or bridges are subject to fines or could be required to appear in court. Commercial or private licenses can also be revoked or suspended.
The fliers come one day after Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly announced his resignation on Tuesday.
The trucking Freedom Convoy left from Vancouver for Ottawa at the end of January to protest the federal government’s vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers. The protests soon spread to other areas of the country, with Canadians demanding an end to local and federal coronavirus mandates.
Protestors have been in Canada’s capital for 20 days.
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“This is Canada, it’s supposed to be a free country,” one 83-year-old-man named Joachim Machnic told Fox News earlier this week. “We have the right to protest” and “now we’re even being denied the place to protest.”
Late last month, Trudeau characterized the protestors as spewing “hateful rhetoric” and “violence toward fellow citizens.” Though protestors on the ground denied those claims when asked by Fox News Digital earlier this month
“I have not seen one negative flag here. No Nazi flags or anything like that,” one woman protesting in Ottawa, who has been in the capital since Friday, told Fox News Digital.
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“The truckers and supporters here have made an effort to say that we will call out any violence or hatred that we’re seeing, and we’ll report it to the police,” the woman continued. “So we’re all on the same page here. We don’t want to see any violence. They didn’t drive all this way to promote any violence or hate. They’ve come here to make a very peaceful statement that we would like to stop mandates and we’re supporting free choice.”
