Police warn Winnipeg drivers of anticipated traffic issues downtown Friday due to protest convoy

Drivers planning to be in downtown Winnipeg on Friday should be aware of potential traffic disruptions due to a planned convoy of semi-trailer trucks and other vehicles, police say.

The demonstration is expected to create significant traffic congestion at and near the Manitoba Legislature beginning at 9 a.m., Winnipeg police said on Thursday.

Legislature staff were encouraged to work from home Friday.

"It is difficult to predict the scale or duration of the protest," wrote Donald Leitch and Patricia Chaychuk, clerks of the executive council and legislative assembly, in a memo to people who work at the legislative building.

"However, accessing or exiting the grounds, surrounding streets, and parking lots may become impeded or impossible."

Police said they are working with organizers "to facilitate a peaceful event that respects their right to protest while ensuring public safety."

Winnipeg Police Board chair Coun. Markus Chambers met with Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth Thursday morning.

"I'm thankful that the organizers of this event have reached out to the Winnipeg Police Service and have indicated what their plans are, and it's just a matter of co-ordination now with the Winnipeg Police Service to ensure that all the needs of citizens are being met," Chambers said in an interview with Faith Fundal, host of CBC Manitoba's afternoon radio show Up to Speed.

Chambers did not know whether the organizers of the protest had obtained permits.

Despite the co-ordination between police and protest organizers, Chambers said they could not plan for the actions of people "with more nefarious intent" and seeking to cause a disruption "for their own agenda."

Protest convoys have appeared across Canada in recent days, including at border crossings and in Ottawa.

A protest that organizers call Freedom Convoy 2022 started out from B.C. as a movement against vaccine mandates for truckers, but as it made its way across the country to Ottawa, it gained support from people opposed to a wide variety of pandemic restrictions.

Thousands of people with a range of grievances gathered at Parliament Hill to protest on the weekend and many remain in Ottawa. 

The protest has clogged the streets of downtown Ottawa for nearly a week, a protesters have said they intend to stay until their demands for an end to all vaccine mandates or a change in government are met. 

Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said Wednesday there may be"no policing solution" to ending the protest, although the city is considering various options, including requesting military aid, negotiation, a court injunction or forced removal. 

When asked what police in Winnipeg might do if protesters decide to stay for an extended period, Chambers said he draws a distinction between a protest and an "occupation."

"If there's disruption to the economic flow ... or it impacts safety or livability issues for residents, that's when we'll need to consider further actions," he said.

About 90 per cent of cross-border Canadian truckers have been vaccinated, says the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a federal alliance of provincial trucking associations that has come out against the protests.

Some supporters of the convoy have called on Ottawa to end all pandemic restrictions, many of which fall under the purview of provincial governments.

The convoy rolled through Manitoba last week en route to Ottawa, with some protesters displaying Nazi symbols and antisemitic and racist imagery.

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson and provincial opposition leaders, as well as city politicians, have condemned the use of that imagery.