Police say they’ll end the ‘occupation’ of Ottawa’s streets. Here’s why that hasn’t happened yet.

OTTAWA - Law enforcement authorities are under fire for failing to end the demonstrations against public health restrictions and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, now in their third week, that have paralyzed much of the Canadian capital.

Under growing pressure, Trudeau on Monday invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act, which gives the government broad powers as a measure of last resort. On Tuesday, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly resigned over criticism of his department’s handling of what he’s called a “siege” of the city.

Bolstered by the federal backing, Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell on Tuesday sought to reassure the public, at a meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board, “that we have a plan to end this illegal occupation.”

Members of the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” say they’ll stay until their wide-ranging grievances are met. Some want an end to all public health restrictions. Others want Trudeau out of office.

Ottawa residents, meanwhile, are increasingly taking matters into their own hands to end the blockade that has eroded faith in institutions, tarnished Canada’s international reputation and inspired copycat demonstrations abroad.

As the standoff continues, here’s what to know about how the police have responded to the demonstrations and what could come next.

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How did police first respond?

As the convoy made its way toward Ottawa in late January - gathering attention and supporters as it went - the city’s police did not put up barriers to prevent their entry.

“We approached this demonstration in the early days based on the intelligence that we were receiving and based on the history and unfolding of prior demonstrations that we’d seen within our downtown core,” Bell said Tuesday.

The convoy organizers said they would stay only a few days. Police took them at their word, despite chatter on their social media that suggested otherwise and extremist views held by some of the leaders. Police directed the truckers to the downtown area, where demonstrations are frequently held in front of Parliament.

But many of the truckers and their supporters never left and, backed by donors, have dug in.

Police initially aimed to contain the protests and minimize harm to officers and civilians, the typical first response by Canadian law enforcement, said Michael Kempa, a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa. They issued some tickets to truckers. They tried to cut off fuel and food supplies.

But this tactic “doesn’t work,” because “the organizers have the objective of being as disruptive as possible to the Canadian government and economy until their political demands are met,” Kempa said.

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Who has been deployed in Ottawa?

Police will not say how many officers are on the ground in Ottawa, for security reasons.

Within days of trucks arriving on Jan. 28, Sloly, the former police chief, repeatedly pleaded for more resources. Ottawa has a police force of some 1,200 officers. Sloly estimated around 3,000 officers were needed to retake control.

On Feb. 7, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency and asked for 1,800 additional officers.

Trudeau then deployed hundreds of officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), a federal agency. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who declared a provincewide state of emergency on Feb. 11, dispatched Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) personnel to Ottawa.

But little action followed. Police have often stood by as demonstrators violate laws, such as a ban on transporting fuel and an injunction on honking horns.

Under the Emergencies Act, the RCMP can be mobilized to enforce laws that other police have until now been unable or unwilling to do.

On Tuesday, Bell said that while “it’s taken time through planning and resourcing to actually get those boots on the ground,” they were close to having all 1,800 additional officers in Ottawa.

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What are police worried about?

Authorities in Ottawa say enforcement has been complicated beyond just limited resources.

Police are worried that the vehicles or items such as cooking knives could be used as weapons against them. During police operations trying to seize protesters’ fuel, some officers have been swarmed by demonstrators.

Tow-truck companies have been unwilling to help - either because they’ve faced threats against assisting or because they don’t want to lose customers if they do. (The Emergencies Act can be used to compel them to comply.) Some people have removed the tires of vehicles or bled brakes to immobilize them.

Police say that roughly one-quarter of the trucks encamped in the city also contain children, despite calls by Trudeau and other authorities for the children to be sent home, citing the unsafe conditions.

Highly combustible red and yellow cans of fuel for trucks that are distributed throughout the convoys pose another serious danger.

Police have been reluctant to use less-lethal weapons like tear gas or water cannons to disperse the crowds, given the serious dangers they pose in these conditions.

But there have also been accusations of a racialized response to the protesters, who are largely White: Critics have pointed to cases in which protests by Black and Indigenous Canadians in Ottawa have been dispersed far more forcefully and quickly.

Scrutiny has fallen on some former members of law enforcement and the military allegedly backing the demonstrations. Protesters have largely praised the police response and how friendly they have been.

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Who is taking the blame?

Sloly’s resignation followed weeks of frustration. Local lawmakers have called for an investigation into the department’s response. Unlike in the United States, police are not under the jurisdiction of elected officials.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. also reported allegations that Sloly bullied officers and clashed with RCMP and OPP officers dispatched to help resolve the crisis, compromising the police response.

On Sunday, Bill Blair, the minister of emergency preparedness and a former Toronto police chief, told CBC that it was “inexplicable” the Ottawa police had not been enforcing the law.

But Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, said Sloly was unfairly singled out.

“I think this was an intelligence failure, in particular of federal intelligence agencies, to foresee what was coming in terms of the occupation,” he said. “[Sloly] was handed sort of a dog’s breakfast, and he simply didn’t have the resources to engage in enforcement.”

Regina Anne Bateson, an assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said the police’s soft approach “is coming at the expense of public safety, rule of law and the rights of all the residents here.”

“I think there was a severe erosion of trust over that first week when the police insisted for days that this was a peaceful protest happening downtown” when it was not, she said. People thought that “if there were a huge crisis in your city, then the government would come through for you. And that has not been the experience at all.”