The mayor of Ottawa says the city has struck a deal with protesters who have jammed downtown streets for more than two weeks that will see them move out of residential areas in the next 24 hours.
Jim Watson’s office says Freedom Convoy organizers have agreed to the city’s demands to confine their protest activities to an area around Parliament Hill.
A letter to convoy board president Tamara Lich says Watson will agree to meet with demonstrators if trucks and other vehicles taking part in the ongoing protests are out of residential neighbourhoods by noon on Monday.
A response from Lich indicates protesters will comply and begin moving to their new locations on Monday.
The letter says organizers will spend the next 24 hours “working hard … to get buy-in from the truckers” who flooded the capital to voice their opposition to public health measures put in place to combat COVID-19.
Watson’s letter to protesters says residents are “exhausted” and “on edge” due to the demonstrations and warns that some businesses teetering on the brink of permanent closure because of the disruptions.
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The Canadian Press
