'We ask everyone NOT to visit': Trucker convoy sparks warning from Ottawa police, Canadians say this has 'nothing to do with trucking'
With the trucker convoy, protesting the vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border, heading to Ottawa, the city's police is asking the public to not travel to the downtown core, around Parliament Hill.
We will do everything possible to maintain emergency routes in the core, but we ask everyone NOT to visit or travel in the downtown core if you don't need to.
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) January 28, 2022
"The OPS and our partners will do our very best to keep all people healthy and safe," another tweet from Ottawa police reads. "That said, we have a collective responsibility to keep the community healthy and safe."
"We have to work together to enable everyone - demonstrators, visitors and residents - to get home safely to their families and loved ones. We remain in regular contact with the convoy organizers to understand their plan and ensure they have information relative to safe driving routes and appropriate locations to park in the city."
The city police also confirmed that there will be "a large number of trucks and participants" with the main demonstrations planned for the weekend.
"With demonstrations of this scale, there are significant risks to be mitigated but that we can not eliminate," police shared on Twitter.
At a press conference on Thursday evening, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, said he will meet with truckers.
"The convoy itself is becoming a symbol of the fatigue and the division we're seeing in this country," O'Toole said. "A couple of years ago we were calling truckers...heroes, now too many people are allowing the frustration of the pandemic to allow ourselves to become divided, to allow the majority to be so frustrated with the minority that we're willing to see people lose their livelihood, lose their faith in this country."
"We have to make sure that Canadians that are just trying to make sure their voice is heard, don't have their voice stolen by other groups that use that attention to advance sinister or other motives."
On Thursday, the sergeant-at-arms in charge of House of Commons security, Patrick McDonell, wrote to MPs warning of reports that demonstrators have been searching for home addresses of MPs in Ottawa.
Several people in Canada have taken to social media to comment on the convoy, many expressing their concerns.
Two of my uncles are truckers. They have been their whole lives. They are no where near this convoy, because it has nothing to do with the trucking industry.
— Mike Morrison 🏳️🌈 🇨🇦 (@mikesbloggity) January 27, 2022
I’m proud to be part of the 90% keeping this country stocked and moving forward!!!
🚚🇨🇦🚚🇨🇦🚚🇨🇦🚚🇨🇦🚚🇨🇦🚚#FluTrucksKlan #FluTruxKlan— FreddiePhelps 🇨🇦 (@PhelpsPhelps17) January 28, 2022
Daughter of a trucker here. Truckers are very brown and very vaccinated. White dudes with SUVs is a different demographic, one who feels entitled to bringing down the man? You ARE the man. That's why you can do what you're doing.
— fazeela (@fazeelajiwa) January 28, 2022
Yesterday, Canada's Sergeant-at-Arms told all Parliamentarians to avoid this weekend's #TruckersForFreedom2022 rally because people in the movement have been trying to get the home addresses of MPs to cause harm.
Who else is getting January 6th Insurrection vibes? ✋🏾— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) January 28, 2022
Good morning & Happy Friday to all the truckers who are fighting for real issues like better wages. Paid sick days. Improved safety. And a huge shout out to the 85% of truckers who are vaccinated & working hard to keep our shelves stocked, even through a pandemic.
Solidarity. ✊🏽— Dr. Amit Arya (@AmitAryaMD) January 28, 2022