Protesters arrive on Parliament Hill ahead of main trucker convoy

Consistent honks from truck horns could be heard through the downtown core on Friday as participants in the trucker convoy drove into the area and began gathering around Parliament Hill in what's set to be a 'unique, fluid, risky, and significant' protest, according to city officials.

Stretches of local roadways were closed, or reduced to a few lanes as truckers and drivers of other vehicles—many sporting Canadian flags— began to cause what could be days of gridlock across Ottawa, with the main protesting set to take place on Saturday.

During a briefing on Friday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly told reporters that city police have been working with provincial and national agencies including the RCMP to plan for an event that has garnered attention across the country as well as internationally.

“These demonstrations are national in scope, they're massive in scale. Unfortunately, they are polarizing in nature,” Sloly said, adding that “significantly more” national security and emergency service resources have been called into Ottawa for the weekend.

There are drivers converging from different routes originating from British Columbia, Atlantic Canada and many places in-between, that are all soon set to be landing into Ottawa with plans to spend the weekend protesting the federal government and pandemic restrictions that they feel curb their freedoms.