Ottawa’s police chief has announced his resignation publicly after he encountered days of heavy criticism over the way police handled the anti-government trucker protest in the Canadian capital.
While making the announcement on his Twitter handle, Peter Sloly said he had stepped down as head of the Ottawa Police Service. He said he made the decision with “a heavy heart.”
He tweeted: “Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis.
“I am confident the Ottawa Police Service is now better positioned to end this occupation.”
Sloly came under heavy criticism as Ottawa police failed to disperse the large group of Canadian truckers and their teaming supporters that gathered in the city some weeks ago to protest against the mandatory vaccination requirements at the Canada-US land border.
During the protest, the so-called “Freedom Convoy” participants erected blockades at many border crossings, while a group occupied Ottawa’s downtown core.
Ottawa residents slammed the protesters for parking their vehicles on the streets of the city while harassing and threatening locals, as well as honking their horns and setting off fireworks at every hour of the night. A lot of residents also questioned why the police did not disperse the convoy.
Initially, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said though the cost of policing the convoy was estimated to be over 800,000 Canadian dollars ($628,000) per day, “police have avoided ticketing and towing vehicle[s] so as not to instigate confrontations with demonstrators.”
Later, Sloly told reporters that “there may not be a police solution to this demonstration” and proposed that the Canadian military could be sent to disperse the protesters – an idea Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly declined.
Sloly later described the protest in Ottawa as a “siege” and had requested reinforcements.
Trudeau later invoked the never-before-used federal emergency powers in what he called an attempt “to strengthen and support law enforcement agencies at all levels across the country.”
