The City of Ottawa “lost control” in the downtown core during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protest in February, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told the Emergencies Act inquiry on Tuesday.
The result of this, he said, was “lawlessness” in the area of Ottawa labelled the “red zone” during the demonstration — a three-square-kilometre area downtown that encompassed Parliament Hill and a number of residential areas. “We lost control in the red zone,” Watson told the committee. “In the red zone, it was lawlessness.
People were having parties. There were open fires. They are throwing off fireworks that were a fire hazard to heritage buildings in the downtown core.
They were harassing people in restaurants, tearing off their masks.” Watson impressed upon the inquiry that “these are not sort of made up stories…these are all documented during the convoy occupation.” In a note sent to Ontario Premier Doug Ford during the protests, which was made public during Tuesday’s hearing, Watson wrote that the protest was “tantamount to psychological warfare.” Read more: Ottawa police, City Hall knew convoy protests would dig in: documents Watson is spending the day providing his long-awaited testimony on municipal efforts to handle the three-week demonstration, after his chief of staff and Ottawa’s city manager appeared Monday. “We had some people dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.