OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Two teenage members of a pro-freedom group were arrested over the weekend after a confrontation involving them flying a large Canadian flag near Canada’s Parliament buildings while taking part in the one-year anniversary rally of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa.
On January 28, the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) arrested two teenagers from the Save Canada organization who were at the anniversary rally after an altercation that took place in the afternoon near Parliament.
LifeSiteNews learned that 18-year-old Nick Alexander was arrested for obstruction and 16-year-old Monty Walker for trespassing. The pair were briefly detained by the PPS before being let go.
Their arrests appear to be the result of a disagreement officers had with the teenagers over the size of one of the flag poles they had, which one officer said could pose a threat.
Alexander’s younger brother is Josh Alexander, who was suspended from his Catholic school last year for protesting the allowance of gender-confused males into girls’ bathrooms, and whom LifeSiteNews has written extensively on.
Josh told LifeSiteNews via email Monday that of the four people from Save Canada near parliament, which included him, only his brother Nick and Walker were arrested.
According to Josh, Nick and Walker were let go after about half an hour but have been “banned from the hill for 100 days.”
“They were false charges that were dropped. Nick was charged for obstruction while Monty was charged for trespassing,” Josh said in an email to LifeSiteNews.
Video (WARNING: Offensive language) of the altercation was streamed live Saturday on YouTube that shows the incident (around the 3:36:00 mark) as well as the lead-up to the events. Josh and his brother and Walker can be seen in the video.
In the video, Nick is the individual holding the smaller flag and wearing a backward red hat, and Walker is the person holding the large flag.
According to Josh, the arrests came suddenly and out of nowhere.
“There was a calm and respectful debate with Parliamentary Protective Services regarding the size of the flagpole that Monty and another protestor were holding,” Josh said to LifeSiteNews.
“A PPS officer grabbed nick without warning from behind. Nick jolted and turned around in surprise, and his surprised reaction resulted in his arrest for obstruction.”
Josh said that while his brother Nick was handcuffed, a PPS officer threatened to arrest Monty if he remained on the hill.
“Monty continued to insist that he was well within his rights as well as the hill rules to remain on the hill,” Josh said to LifeSiteNews.
“He was immediately arrested for trespassing. They were taken to the west block of Parliament, and after approximately 30 minutes they were released with no charges.”
Another video of Walker’s arrest posted on Twitter shows PPS officers taking him away.
Josh also posted on Twitter yesterday a video montage of clips from the Saturday altercation.
Save Canada bills itself as a “team of passionate Canadians volunteering our time and resources to bring prosperity, Christianity and happiness back to our Country.”
Over the weekend, hundreds of Canadians gathered peacefully near Canada’s Parliament in Ottawa to rally in remembrance of the Freedom Convoy, which began around this time last year in protest of COVID mandates.
Most rallygoers spent time singing songs and chants, as well as listening to speeches from various people in attendance.
Of note is that the organizers of the event did have a permit for the demonstration.
According to the Ottawa Police Service, there were 117 parking tickets handed out, 19 vehicles towed, and 47 Provincial Offences Act tickets given out.
Last Thursday, Ottawa Police issued a warning to people who were planning to come to Parliament Hill over the weekend for the Freedom Convoy one-year anniversary rally.
In a tweet on Thursday, they wrote “illegal activity or obstructing or impeding the flow of traffic with vehicles on any roadway will not be tolerated and will be met with swift and immediate action.”
Wellington Street, which is the road near Parliament, has been closed for a year after being shut down by the city due to Freedom Convoy.
However, the road will soon reopen to traffic after the City of Ottawa voted to reopen it by March 1.
One year since Truckers banded together thousands of Canadians to fight COVID mandates
It was at this time last year when thousands of Canadians rallied together to call for an end to all COVID mandates by descending upon Ottawa in the Freedom Convoy.
The Freedom Convoy was an unprecedented display of non-violent activism in Canada, which ended after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who refused to meet with the protesters or send a delegation to them, put in place the never-before-used Emergencies Act (EA) on February 14, 2022.
Under the EA, the government froze some $8 million from the bank accounts of 267 different people. along with roughly 170 bitcoin wallets. The freezing of bank accounts without a court order was an unprecedented action in Canadian history and was only allowed through the Trudeau government’s invocation of the EA.
While Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23, 2022, the unprecedented freezing of citizens’ bank accounts led to immense backlash by civil rights groups and the public alike.
Shortly after the Freedom Convoy ended, most provinces in Canada dropped their vaccine passports and mask mandates. However, a federal COVID jab flying mandate remained in place until October 2022.
As a result of the use of the EA, the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) was put in place last year to investigate the government’s use of the EA through a monthlong public hearing that called forth dozens of witnesses.
As it stands, the full impact of the Trudeau government’s use of the EA is yet to be determined, with the POEC slated to release a full report with their findings and recommendations no later than February 20.