A new report alleges that Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers participating in the destruction of the Freedom Convoy protest exchanged messages about the level of brutal force they would use on protesters.
In what The New York Times described as a “show of force,” Canadian authorities cleaned out the Freedom Convoy protest site in Ottawa on Saturday, resulting in 170 arrests.
Demonstrator David Paisley, 33, shared the details of his arrest, according to the Times, saying the officer “had a big military rifle, he pointed right at my chest, he yelled at me to get down, on the ground. It was like a movie scene.”
The tactics of the day were such that Ottawa police published a Twitter post asked members of the public to stop calling emergency numbers “to express displeasure about the police action to remove an unlawful assembly downtown.”
The Canadian political news and commentary website Rebel News said that it obtained screenshots of RCMP officers exchanging as they prepared to clear out protesters.
The Rebel News report acknowledged it had not been able to authenticate and had reached out to RCMP communications for comment.
The officers are reportedly members of the Musical Ride team, an equestrian troupe of RCMP members that normally performs at exhibitions to showcase and promote the “mounted police” history of the law enforcement agency.
The team members were in Ottawa to assist in the crackdown on the protests, Rebel News reported.
“Time for the protesters to hear our jackboots on the ground,” the site quotes RCMP officer as writing.
The same officer is also quoted as writing, “Don’t kick all of them out until next weeks group gets our turn.”
The report quotes another RCMP officer joking about a video that showed mounted officers trampling protesters.
“[J]ust watched the horse video – that is awesome,” the message read.
The text then said, “we should practice that manoeuvre.”
PROTESTORS: We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. We were slow and methodical, yet you were assaultive and aggressive with officers and the horses. Based on your behaviour, we are responding by including helmets and batons for our safety. pic.twitter.com/drxfhG9clP
— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 19, 2022
Police drag away a Freedom Convoy protesters and proceed to beat the individual.
Keep your eye on the scene as the person is dragged off into the background by the police and is repeatedly hit with what looks like a gun. pic.twitter.com/jxRKlR5ZFU
— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) February 18, 2022
Rebel News, which was established in 2015, is a Toronto-based site that gives its mission as telling “the other side of the story.’
The site said that one of its reporters, Alexa Lavoie was “brutally struck with a baton, shot at close range with a pepper canister which then broke, burning her face and eyes.”
Police in Ottawa are arresting Freedom Convoy protesters right now. pic.twitter.com/u4PO5NNK5G
— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) February 18, 2022
In response to the tactics, Dagny Pawlak, a spokeswoman for the truckers, told the Times in a text message that the assault on the protesters was “horrific, A dark moment in Canadian history.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.