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The roads are not blocked, the truckers have kept lanes open for emergency vehicles etc. The police have begged repeatedly for people to report lawbreaking to
by 6nf 5y ago
The roads are not blocked, the truckers have kept lanes open for emergency vehicles etc.
The police have begged repeatedly for people to report lawbreaking to them so they can arrest more people.
- slothtrop 5y agoScapegoated you mean. There's been no shortage of pleading and complaints from residents, police refuse to comply. To call it "begging" on the police's behalf is a farce.
- 6nf 5y agoPolice have limited powers to act on public complaints. You can't arrest people that have not broken any laws. Begin annoying is not illegal.
- slothtrop 5y ago> You can't arrest people that have not broken any laws. Train horns in residential areas, let alone at night, are against the law. Harassment is against the law. Parking vehicles in intersections is against the law. Do I need to go on? Stop pretending this isn't what residents are taking issue with, no one gives a fuck about protesting in and of itself.
- 6nf 5y agoI'm not pretending anything. All I'm saying is that honking horns is not an arrestable offense. Parking in intersections is not an arrestable offense. These are tickets and fines.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoRefusing to move out of the intersection, for weeks, probably is arrestable. They'll find something to charge you with. Refusal to disperse, if nothing else.
- rpeden 5y agoIt probably requires less than weeks to qualify for an intimidation charge per section 423(1)(g): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-423.html https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-423.ht... Highway, in this context, means any public road. Early on, you could maybe argue you came to protest and there was really nowhere else to park. But after a few days, given the convoy's stated intent was to shut down Ottawa, it's difficult to argue that you're not trying to make residents abstain from their lawful right to drive down Kent St. or Wellington St if you're still blocking the roads when there are plenty of other places you could park and then walk or bus to the hill to protest.
- slothtrop 5y agoThey're abstaining from ticketing and fining. From doing anything, in most cases. Making this about purely "arrests" is playing coy, but notwithstanding, if offenders persist they can be arrested.
- rpeden 5y agoIt is an arrestable offense and it's not even borderline. Honking air horns and train horns in (or near) a residential area is an easy mischief charge under the criminal code, as mentioned above. Here they are around 11pm last night: https://youtu.be/bZ6d2rnUvi8?t=1988 https://youtu.be/bZ6d2rnUvi8?t=1988 Plenty of truck horns, a train horn, and someone continually engaging his Jake brake. There are apartments 50 meters away on Sparks St. And if memory serves, there are plenty more on Queen St. close enough to be kept awake by that much noise at that time of night. It's difficult to see how that's not depriving residents of lawful enjoyment of their property. That's an indictable offense, which makes it an arrestable offense as per the code: 495 (1) A peace officer may arrest without warrant (a) a person who has committed an indictable offence or who, on reasonable grounds, he believes has committed or is about to commit an indictable offence; I realize this isn't what you want, but the law means what it says, not what you think it should mean. If you want to change it, you're free to run for political office. But on that note, a big issue we face is that while anyone can decide to run for election in theory, in practice it's way, way easier to become an MP if you're already wealthy and can afford to take the time away from work to run a successful campaign. So in reality, running to become a member of Parliament is least accessible to those whose voices need to be heard to most. I don't know what the right answer is, but I don't think that harassing your fellow citizens to try and blackmail the government into doing what you want is the way to go.
- wrycoder 5y agoI heard they had backed off on the honking.
- 6nf 5y agoThey did, you can check one of the many livestreams on Youtube for the whole history of the honking back to the first few days of the convoy protest
- bcrl 5y agoI was physically in the downtown core in Ottawa last week. There are plenty of roads with no lanes open for emergency vehicles. My bank is closed because employees can't get into the parking lots they normally use. One of the restaurants a monthly meetup I am part of frequents doesn't feel safe opening up. If I left my car parked in the middle of the road in Ottawa it would be towed within a couple of hours. It's complete bullshit that there are no laws for the police to enforce.