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Freedom Convoy participants face Ottawa Police in February.Shutterstock

(LifeSiteNews) — A newly released recording shows that an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) liaison apologized to the organizers of the Freedom Convoy after the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) raided the Convoy’s gas supply in February.

On Friday, True North’s Andrew Layton tweeted a copy of a call between an OPP liaison and Freedom Convoy road captains that took place February 6 on Coventry Road.

“An OPP liaison apologized to Freedom Convoy organizers after Ottawa police raided the Coventry fuel site, telling them he and his colleagues felt ‘betrayed’ by the Ottawa Police Service,” Lawton tweeted. “This comes from a recording of the call I obtained.”

The officer said he was talking for himself but also for many other members of the Ontario police who felt that they were “ … kept out of the loop” by Ottawa police.

“I personally want to apologize … for what occurred earlier today or later tonight there in the evening,” the officer said on the recording. “We were being told the police’s position on the event, and … we discovered that we were not being told the truth, or actually we were not being updated and being consulted with what was going on.”

Read: Peaceful Freedom Convoy truckers vow not to leave as Ottawa police confiscate their fuel

The officer went on to say that the Ontario police did not effectively communicate with them before the raid. He said the Ontario police “were not aware” of many of the measures taken by the Ottawa police, including in regard to certain arrests that were made. He said the liaisons and even certain members of the Ontario police were also not made aware of a tweet and Facebook post that was put out by the Ottawa police warning people that they could be arrested for carrying gas to the downtown area.

The officer said that while he understands that the upper management of the Ottawa police were likely under pressure from the mayor and from their boards, they could have at least told the liasions what was happening so that it could have been communicated to the Convoy.

The officer said that after the incident on Coventry Road the Ottawa police were removing themselves from the liaisons for downtown Ottawa operations, although they would continue to assist outside of Ottawa as they could.

“We OPP, for now, have stepped back and will re-evaluate what is going on,” he said, referring to the liaison, not regular Ontario police. “But as for the operations in Ottawa, we have stepped back, for now.”

The officer said he could only not apologize for one instance, in which a Convoy participant was arrested for not following agreements made on both sides. However, besides that, the liaision officer saidhe was sorry for any breaches of trust that may have occurred.

“For the arrests that were made, for the other turmoil, everything that we had built and said or promised which was not followed or which was overturned by Ottawa police management, we’re just saying that we hope we can build again a relationship of trust,” he said. “For now, we’ve removed ourselves from the Ottawa police operations.”

The officer said that he appreciated the continued understanding of the Freedom Convoy, who could have easily said they were done communicating and he hoped they would be able to maintain good relations.

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