OTTAWA—Ottawa police laid more than 500 criminal charges linked with the so-called “Freedom Convoy” occupation in the nation’s capital last winter, including more than 30 for alleged assaults and possession of weapons, the Emergencies Act inquiry heard Thursday. “The threats were omnipresent and we tried to address them as we went along,” Morris told the inquiry this week. By Feb. 21, Ottawa police laid 530 criminal charges against people linked with the protests, according to statistics shown at the inquiry on Thursday. Some of them, such as Tamara Lich, Pat King and Chris Barber, are scheduled to testify at the public inquiry. In triggering the act on Feb. 14 for the first time since it was created in 1988, the federal government created special police powers to deal with the convoy protests.

Source: thestar October 21, 2022 08:51 UTC