I don’t know understand how this has been allowed to continue for so long but we’re on day SIXTEEN of Ottawa’s occupation. I’m not sure how much people from outside the area understand about what’s going on in the capital. The Ottawa Police force, who has been a disaster from day one of this occupation, say they need more resources to disperse the convoy while the Prime Minister counters, "I don't accept the contention that the city of Ottawa has exhausted its tools and its resources." In this city there’s a general belief, due to the police’s lack of enforcement, that they are in collusion with the occupiers. Whether this is true or not what most certainly is true is that Ottawa residents have been left to stand alone.
The injunction to stop honking (which had previously been relentless at all times of day) is not longer being heeded by convoy members. The extreme noise is back distressing residents and the convoy’s idling trucks have dropped the city’s air quality into the toilet. A measure of one air pollutant hit a level more than fourteen times higher than the city’s average. We’ve also discovered that a quarter of trucks have kids in them so children of convoy members are also being subjected to a horrendous and potentially damaging level of noise and air pollution.
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| Counter protest in Ottawa today |
There’s been an ongoing campaign of intimidation, harassment and assault waged on city residents, particularly those wearing masks, which has necessitated the financially devastating closure of countless downtown businesses for their employees’ safety. The estimated cost of the closure of the Rideau mall alone is now $40 million. 911 has at times been unreachable as the convoy flood the service with fake calls, leaving actual emergencies to go unanswered. When residents do get through, they are frequently met with paltry excuses instead of help. Many people able to leave their homes have abandoned them for the time being; others don't have anywhere else to retreat to. Response time for ambulances and fire trucks is woeful downtown where parked convoy vehicles block countless streets. It will be surprising if no one dies waiting for emergency services This situation has gone on far too long already and there’s no end in sight. We have no functional police force in Ottawa and have been let down by all levels of government except for a few treasured local politicians, among them Councillors Catherine McKenney and Shawn Menard, and Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden.
I’m posting an assortment of tweets from the past forty-eight hours that illustrate what the situation is currently like in Ottawa.
