Ottawa Declares State Of Emergency To Use "Extraordinary Measures" To Stop Protests

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has declared a state of emergency in order to, according to him, help deal with the protests and occupation of Ottawa city. The Freedom Convoy, as it's called, has vowed to stay until all COVID restrictions across Canada are lifted.

Despite the fact that this has been an extremely peaceful gathering, legacy media and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been labelling it otherwise, using terms like "racist," "fringe," "misogynistic" and "extremist." Ottawa city council member Diane Deans even referred to the protests as an act of terrorism and that the emergency measures act must be enacted here so "extraordinary measures" can be used to shut down the protests.

She made these remarks at a special meeting that took place with Ottawa city council and the Police Board.

Watson said in a statement,

This reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlighting the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government.

Invoking a "state of emergency" essentially allows the government to use "emergency measures" that may be seen as extreme to shut down these peaceful protests. Perhaps this involves bringing in the military or the police force using some sort of force to encourage the departure of protestors.

It's discouraging to think that there are citizens in the country who actually believe that any part of these protests are "violent" or "unlawful." Anybody who has been on the ground in Ottawa, like The Pulse, would be able to see this clearly. You can stay up to date with our coverage on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Telegram.

Here’s a great illustration indicative of legacy media and how they are portraying the protests.

As with any protest, you’re going to have small disruptions and misrepresentations. Whether or not the few individuals who were filmed with hateful flags during the protest were government plants is besides the point. Our team has been there the whole time and have not been able to spot these people, and when they did make an appearance they are clearly not welcome and did not stay long.

What's concerning now is what exactly is the government going to use? Now that they have given themselves the power to use emergency measures, what will this entail and how will the crowd react? Fines? Criminal convictions? More brute force? Who knows.

It simply gives them the flexibility to do things they normally wouldn't do. The very fact that we as citizens have given governments such enormous powers to yield against the citizenry is highly questionable. We will see how things go from here.