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Comment by throw0101d | Hacker News Reader

> […] against the peaceful protestors.

At some point they stopped being protestors and became occupiers. There is no Charter right to occupy—as the pro-Palestinian folks also learned [1] (which was simply re-iterating previous precedent, see perhaps [2]).

[1] 2024 ONSC 3755

[2] 2011 ONSC 6862

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At what point is that, legally?

Did they attack anybody? Obstruct anyone's access to a building they had a right to access?

Or does someone just need to declare that someone is an occupier?

> At what point is that, legally?

Presumably when they started setting up residence by not moving their trucks, living in them, and 'importing' fuel supplies into the city:

* https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/protesters-say-the...

Or it could have been when they set up saunas and barber shops:

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/15/ottawa-truck-c...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(IANAL)

Preventing protestors from getting supplies like fuel to keep warm (etc) is an international crime.

They worked with local authorities to position trucks to allow adequate lanes and access to all of downtown.

Ottawa being the capital of Canada, it wasn't the first protest they've had - and so this was all standard practice/protocol for local authorities.

Yes, they harassed people, they cornered people, yes they restricted access to stores, buildings, and yes they used their truck horns to attack local residents by preventing them being able to sleep for days on end. Preventing people from sleeping via loud noise is literally considered a torture tactic.

It's quite clear what the limits are for protests in Ottawa. There are dozens to hundreds of protesters in Ottawa continuously. There are regularly protests of thousands of people. If you want to block the road, you get a parade permit which is easy to get. You can shout as long as you want, but if you use an amplifier the police will eventually take it away from you. You can carry obnoxious signs. Blocked roads because of protests are an annoying fact of life in Ottawa. But you shrug and move on, it's a cost of living/working in downtown Ottawa. I've never seen a protest block the road for more than 4 hours.

It's fascinating how the same arguments can apply to the homeless, but how one sees the homeless vs. the truck protestors is likely to be polar opposites with one group free to stay as they aren't infringing on any rights, and the other group being a nuisance and having to go expeditiously. Which group is tolerated largely depends on your political alignment.

yes, they prevented people from sleeping — I never understand why people don't consider this attack, after a couple of days it's borderline torture

The Third Geneva Convention categorizes sleep deprivation as actual torture.

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