Four pro-Palestinian protesters arrested for allegedly blocking road

Ottawa police have arrested four pro-Palestinian protesters for allegedly blocking a downtown street during a demonstration on Monday evening.

Police said Tuesday demonstrators gathered on Elgin Street at approximately 5 p.m. the night before “and were advised by the Police Liaison Team members multiple times that they would need to limit their demonstration to the sidewalk and not obstruct traffic.”

Demonstrators did not comply, police said.

Pro-Palestinian protests and marches have become a mainstay on the streets of downtown Ottawa for more than a year, since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent retaliation, escalated the ongoing war in the region. Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have routinely gathered at the human rights monument on Elgin Street and marched through the streets of downtown Ottawa and the ByWard Market, flanked by police.

Sarah Abdul-Karim, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said typically, the protesters’ police liaison tells police where the group plans to march shortly before the demonstration starts.

“We didn’t do anything different from what we do in the usual protest. But the response from police was different,” she said.

“From the second we showed up at the human rights monument there were massive amounts of police. They refused to let us take the streets to march, although we were too many people to fit on the sidewalk.”

Abdul-Karim says police told the protesters they needed to give police advanced warning of their plans, something they’ve never required previously. Police also told organizers their numbers were too low to take the streets, though in the past, protesters have marched with even smaller groups, she said.

This newspaper has asked OPS why protesters weren’t allowed on the street, and is awaiting a response.

Abdul-Karim says the group had planned to march by office buildings of companies that have business dealings with Israel’s military, and opted to protest on the sidewalk, per police’s instructions. But as they marched, some of the large group split at a crosswalk and spilled out onto the road.

“If someone stepped slightly outside they would push us, shoving bikes into people,” she said. “They lifted up their bikes, pushed the wheels into people. Some people put their hands up to protect themselves from the bikes, and they arrested those folks.”

Videos posted to social media show OPS officers pushing their bike tires and handlebars into the crowd, and at least one person being arrested.

The police press release says protesters began marching but “quickly turned north on Metcalfe Street and took over the street,” and “despite repeated orders from police and dialogue with PLT (police liaison team) members at that location, the demonstrators remained and interactions between police and demonstrators began.”

One person was charged with assaulting police and three people were charged with both mischief and obstruction of a peace officer, police say. All four were expected to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.

After four people were arrested, the protesters gathered at the OPS headquarters on Elgin Street. There, protestors received a $490 noise infraction bylaw for using a sound system.

In an email statement to this newspaper, Roger Chapman, the city’s director of bylaw and regulatory services, said bylaw officers were called to police headquarters for a noise complaint, and protesters were “unlawfully using speaker systems, whistles and horns.”

Officers initially provided a verbal warning to organizers and then conducted multiple noise readings, showing sound levels of more than 95 decibels, he said.

The city’s bylaw officers have “educated the organizers of the protests numerous times in the past about the regulations prohibiting the use of speakers on City property,” he said. “Continued failure to follow officers’ instructions will result in further enforcement action.”

In the past, the city has levied noise bylaw tickets against pro-Palestinian protesters, but haven’t been giving out tickets in recent months.

Earlier this year, a coalition of more than 50 community groups called for city hall to protect protesters from being fined for noise violations while using megaphones and speakers at protests. It came after the city handed out more than $23,000 worth of tickets to protesters at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, rallies for transgender youth, picket lines for striking workers and climate change protests.

Abdul-Karim said she took the $490 bylaw ticket and the group intended to continue to use their sound system, as they have done at prior protests, was threatened with arrests and charges of mischief.

“The messages we’re getting are mixed, and all very aggressive,” she said. “It was really really messed up, the way they treated us.”