The Rolling Thunder motorcycle convoy that demonstrated in Ottawa over the last weekend cost an estimated $2.5 to $3 million to monitor, says the chair of Ottawa’s police services board.
Eli El-Chantry said that in light of costs to police the events, a “sustainable” plan is needed to deal with future protests, which he expects will continue.
Rolling Thunder is a motorcycle rally supported by groups such as Veterans for Freedom and Freedom Fighters Canada, and many of the figures who played a key role in organizing the Freedom Convoy that protested in the capital earlier this year.
Organizers and participants said that one of the main motivations was to “take back” the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, around which a fence had been erected by authorities during the Freedom Convoy protests.
The events officially began on April 30 with a rally at the cenotaph, with speakers delivering speeches criticizing the way in which police managed the Freedom Convoy.
By the end of the weekend, up to ten arrests were made, forty vehicles were towed and 760 tickets were issued, according to the Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa police said in a statement that the arrests pertained to various offences including breach of conditions and causing a disturbance. One woman was also arrested for assaulting police.
Tensions mounted between police and some protestors over the weekend but not on the same scale as the Freedom Convoy protests that rocked the capital in the winter.
For three weeks beginning Jan. 29, hundreds of trucks involved in the convoy parked around Parliament Hill to protest against the government’s COVID-19 mandates and restrictions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by controversially invoking the Emergencies Act to remove them.
The costs associated with policing the Freedom Convoy were estimated at $35 million, which the federal government has said they would pay.
