Law enforcement advisors told Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino that the Freedom Convoy protest that rocked Ottawa in January and February was peaceful.
According to documents obtained exclusively by Rebel News, the director-general of Public Safety Canada’s central operation centre overseeing the convoy crackdown determined there were no violence or threats present at the peaceful demonstrations.
“No violence took place in the National Capital Region despite national protest for a wide variety of causes,” the memo advised. “Overall assessment: The majority of the event was peaceful. Since most government employees are working remotely, the disruption to government activities is so far minor.”
Other emails dated to Feb. 1 show that police also noted that convoy organizers were calling on people to be respectful of the law.
“Urges to keep patient work with law enforcement. No violence or threats of violence. Do not take anger out on police officers or fellow officers,” the email read.
At the height of the Freedom Convoy, opponents of the protests like NDP leader Jagmeet Singh falsely claimed violence was “commonplace” on the streets of Ottawa. Singh cited a now-debunked claim that convoy protesters were involved in an arson attempt at a residential building.
In reality, the street crime rate actually went down for the duration of the convoy. Additionally interim Ottawa Police chief Steve Bell admitted that police did not discover any loaded firearms despite allegations that weapons were present.
“What I can indicate is throughout the protest, we did receive information and intelligence around weapons and possession of weapons by people that either had attended or intended on attending the occupation,” said Bell.
“As a result of clearing, at no point did we make any firearm-related charges, yet there are investigations that continue in relation to weapons possession at the occupation.”
