The trucker protests rolled through Ottawa after drivers decided to protest vaccine mandates.
According to CTV News Ottawa, the truckers are responsible for delivering products all across the country, but they don't want to abide by the COVID-19 vaccine requests from local, provincial, and national governments. Protesting on Saturday, the groups waved Confederate flags and Trump flags.
The Vancouver mayor told truckers to stay out of his city since they have a 95 percent vaccination rate. But in Ottawa, the protests reportedly took a turn after midnight when residents near the protest began shouting out of their windows for protesters to be quiet and go home.
In a viral thread on Twitter, Ottawa resident Matias Muñoz claimed that two people associated with the anti-vaccine protest tried to start a fire in his apartment building.
"At an apartment building on Lisgar St. early this morning, there was an attempt to light a fire in the lobby. The building has CCTV footage and has called police," confirmed Glen McGregor, a senior political correspondent at CTV National News. "No real damage and no injuries. This will fall somewhere between criminal mischief and arson, which police tend to take pretty seriously."
"We don't have evidence the suspects in this attempted arson were protestors, but tenants think so," McGregor noted.
Screen captures of alleged surveillance video were posted online by Muñoz, who claimed that two people brought firestarter bricks into the lobby at 5:00 a.m.
"We were able to see the building's video footage of the event," Muñoz explained in the post. "These two men got into the lobby, and began lighting the full package. The building is old and has wood paneling on the walls. It is also located at the epicenter of the convoy protests in Ottawa's core. One of them taped up the door handles so no one could get in or out. This is the most insidious part of the experience besides the lighting of the fire."
He went on to say that some of his neighbors saw protesters "become very aggressive and angry at the tenants in the hours leading up" to the fire.
See the full thread below:
I've been hesitating to post this publicly, but I feel I must for the safety of downtown Ottawa residents. Here are the facts:\n\nLast night two arsonists brought a full package of firestarter bricks into our building's lobby at 5AM. The building is located at Metcalfe & Lisgar. 1/— Matias Mu\u00f1oz (@Matias Mu\u00f1oz) 1644191440
One of them taped up the door handles so no one could get in or out. This is the most insidious part of the experience besides the lighting of the fire. 3/pic.twitter.com/3yPo25IyN3— Matias Mu\u00f1oz (@Matias Mu\u00f1oz) 1644191822
The tenant quickly got into the elevator and arsonists continued to ignite the package. Once lit, it grew and nearly touched the wood panel walls. The arsonists escaped out the side door as video shows the fire growing. 5/pic.twitter.com/5pUZKzpysK— Matias Mu\u00f1oz (@Matias Mu\u00f1oz) 1644192251
A good Samaritan was walking by the door outside and saw the fire. Luckily the door opened after some struggle with the taped handles, he got in and was able to extinguish the flames. 7/— Matias Mu\u00f1oz (@Matias Mu\u00f1oz) 1644192593
Our hope is that the @OttawaPolice and @JimWatsonOttawa will he's @cmckenney's calls for an immediate and firm resolution to the convoy's occupation.\n\nThis incident could have ended much, much worse.— Matias Mu\u00f1oz (@Matias Mu\u00f1oz) 1644192783
Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency for the City of Ottawa because of the ongoing demonstrations.
The Ottawa Police Department announced Sunday morning that they issued over 450 tickets on Saturday.
"The Ottawa Police Service and its partners worked through the night to reduce the impacts of demonstrators in the downtown core, respond to calls for service, and improve neighbourhood safety," the statement said.
450+ tickets issued since Saturday morning:\nThe Ottawa Police Service and its partners worked through the night to reduce the impacts of demonstrators in the downtown core, respond to calls for service, and improve neighbourhood safety.\nhttps://www.ottawapolice.ca/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=0087e6b4-7217-44b3-b17c-124b273da999&lang=en\u00a0\u2026\n#ottnews— Ottawa Police (@Ottawa Police) 1644166302
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