"The right to lawful and peaceful demonstrations will always be protected. We will not allow for conditions that led to the unlawful protests in February to reoccur. We are applying lessons learned from the unlawful protest as well as the Rolling Thunder and associated protests to build our plan," Ottawa police said on Friday.
The police said it will work for a safe celebration of Canada Day by cooperating with the organizers to ensure respect for the rule of law, the release said. Officers are to be enforcing the Trespass to Property Act, Liquor License Act, local laws and the Criminal Code, the release added.
The protesters plan to stay for a prolonged time, repeating their demands from February for the government to put an end to what they said were tyrannical vaccine and mask mandates, and also for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign.
In February 2022, Canada was shaken by a protest movement led by truckers. For a month, the protesters blocked border crossings, highways, Ottawa, and other important cities, demanding the complete lifting of all COVID-19 related sanitary measures.
This led to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act, an action currently being questioned by parliamentary opposition parties, civil society and other public actors, who consider it unlawful. Critics accused the Trudeau government of abusing the emergency powers, especially with measures like freezing the bank accounts of those suspected of supporting the blockades.