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Ottawa police vow crackdown on ‘dangerous’ trucker protest praised by Trump

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Ottawa police vowed on Friday to crack down on an “increasingly dangerous” protest by hundreds of truckers who have shut down the center of the Canadian capital for eight days to demand an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The well-organized blockade, which police say has relied partly on funding from sympathizers in the United States, is unprecedented by Canadian standards. Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said hundreds more truckers planned to enter the city this weekend.

“This remains … an increasingly volatile and increasingly dangerous demonstration,” Sloly told reporters.

Protesters in the downtown core “remain highly organized, well-funded, extremely committed to resisting all attempts to end the demonstration safely,” he added.

Some want an end to a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers while others insist Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be deposed on the grounds he exceeded his authority by imposing restrictions to tackle the pandemic.

Sloly, who said he and other top officials had received death threats, likened the protest to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington when thousands of supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.

Trump said in a statement that the truckers were “peacefully protesting the harsh policies of far left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates”.

To the increasing fury of residents https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ottawans-fed-up-with-trucker-blockade-blame-police-inaction-2022-02-03, Ottawa police have so far largely stood by and watched as some protesters smashed windows, threatened reporters and health care workers and abused racial minorities.

Sloly said police would put in place a “surge and contain” strategy, including reinforcements of 150 officers deployed downtown, to restore order.

“The hatred, the violence, the illegal acts that Ottawa residences and businesses have endured over the last week are unacceptable,” he said.

Law and order is primarily a municipal and provincial responsibility and the federal government has limited room to act. Liberal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the prospects for confrontation remained high.

Blockades are also planned in Toronto and Quebec City. Francois Legault, premier of Quebec, said police would not allow truckers to block traffic.

The protest is dividing the official opposition Conservative Party, which this week ousted its leader https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/main-rival-canadas-trudeau-ousted-after-losing-party-confidence-vote-2022-02-02 amid complaints he had not sufficiently backed the truckers.

Interim Conservative chief Candice Bergen, in an email leaked to the Globe and Mail, said on Monday “we need to turn this into the PM’s problem”.

The party’s public safety spokesman, Pierre Paul-Hus, tweeted on Friday that the blockade needed to end. Fellow legislator Dean Allison then tweeted that Paul-Hus was wrong.

Police have uncovered at least two operations centers in Ottawa, with more across the country, and say demonstrators are receiving professional legal advice.

Sloly said police would order some truckers to move and if they refuse, their vehicles will be towed.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Mark Porter, Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool)

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A linebacker at West Virginia State is fatally shot on the eve of a game against his old school

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.

The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.

Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.

West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.

Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.

“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”

Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.

West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.

“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”

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Hall of Famer Joe Schmidt, who helped Detroit Lions win 2 NFL titles, dies at 92

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DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.

The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.

One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.

“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”

Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.

“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”

Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.

Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.

In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.

“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”

Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.

Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.

Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.

“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”

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Coastal GasLink fined $590K by B.C. environment office over pipeline build

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VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.

The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.

It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.

The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.

Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.

The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

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