![]() ![]() So far Toronto has avoided a similar occupation of its streets but it is taking significant precautions, given the situation unfolding in other parts of the province. Premier Doug Ford announced on Friday that the province would enact a state of emergency in response to a prolonged occupation of downtown Ottawa streets that he said has devolved into a “siege.” “We are preparing for every eventuality and we have a very robust plan that is very nimble and allows us to scale up or scale down, whatever is required.” It really is an all hands on deck operation,” Ramer said of the service’s plans for this weekend. You’ll also notice several of our Toronto Police Service tow trucks are out there as well, so we can move very quickly if need be. “We are redeploying plainclothes assets that are now in uniform, we of course have people on overtime and callbacks and we have a lot of city assets that are assisting us. On Friday evening, police announced additional road closures around Hospital Row - Queen’s Park Circle to the north, Dundas Street to the south, Bay Street to the east and University Avenue to the west.īut Ramer said there is a further perimeter that police will shut down “if need be.” He said that perimeter roughly encompasses Toronto City Hall, Queen’s Park and the areas surrounding those sites. Police first closed Queen’s Park Circle to vehicular traffic, as well as College Street between Bay and Yonge streets. However, he also acknowledged that those involved with the movement are deliberately spreading about possible demonstrations in an attempt to “tax the resources” of some police services. Ramer said that police do have specific intelligence 'not based merely on social media posts' which points to the possibility of another round of “Convoy for Freedom Protests” taking place in the city this weekend. So that's what we're attempting to stop and will not be tolerated.” “So we will facilitate any type of protest tomorrow, as we do week in and week out throughout the year, but we will not have the roadways and seats of government jammed up occupied. “We are here to preserve public safety and facilitate peaceful protests and peaceful protest does not include vehicles jamming up the roadways,” he said. Interim Police Chief James Ramer made the comment to reporters during a briefing at police headquarters as he discussed the operational plans in place to manage what could be a second straight weekend of protests involving a large number of vehicles downtown. ![]() Toronto’s police chief reiterated Friday that he will ‘not tolerate’ encampments or vehicles being used to block roadways during a possible convoy demonstration downtown this weekend but will “facilitate peaceful protest” as much as possible. ![]()
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