Ottawa churches close doors as anti-mandate protests spread anew
Global News
The protesters rolled into the nation's capital last weekend, and while some people went home over the course of the week, participation surged anew over the weekend.
It was just before Christmas that the Christ Church Cathedral closed in-person services amid the rise in COVID-19 cases so congregants didn’t have to choose between going to church or seeing their families.
Beth Bretzlaff, the church rector, said the cathedral was supposed to open on Sunday for the first time since mid-December as provincial restrictions eased. Instead, the lines of trucks clogging the downtown core, and protesters occupying streets, cancelled reopening plans because, Bretzlaff said, it wasn’t safe to bring parishioners into the area.
The so-called Freedom Convoy rolled into the nation’s capital last weekend, and while some people went home over the course of the week, participation surged anew, with police estimating that thousands were part of the weekend crowd.
Similar scenes played out in other parts of the country on Sunday, though on a smaller scale than the day before when thousands of people opposed to pandemic-related restrictions congregated in cities from coast to coast.
Halifax police Const. John MacLeod said hundreds of trucks and cars made their way through the downtown core Sunday and caused quite a backlog, but officers were working to clear that out. He said the situation has been peaceful with no incidents to report.
Ontario Provincial Police closed part of Highway 402 running to the border crossing between Sarnia and Port Huron, Mich., as a safety precaution because of pedestrians on the highway near a convoy of trucks and tractors.
Ontario’s solicitor-general praised police’s handling of thousands of protesters in Toronto, but noted in a statement that Ottawa police “continue to express concerns about their ability to manage the ongoing occupation in their city.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also weighed in, saying the province has backed Ottawa during the nine-day protess that critics have branded an occupation.
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