An ongoing protest at the Manitoba Legislature has — so far — not resulted in any serious issues, according to city officials.
Mayor Brian Bowman, along with Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth and Jason Shaw of the city’s Emergency Operations Centre, said Friday afternoon that the situation is being monitored but appeared to be running smoothly.
Bowman told media he has been in close contact with his provincial counterparts throughout the day and has also reached out to Ottawa mayor Jim Watson, whose city is experiencing a similar protest on a larger scale.
“The City is monitoring the situation closely,” he said, “especially for the maintenance of access for emergency services.
“I’ve seen some reports of temporary business disruptions — that’s not something we want to see in the longer term.
“Businesses have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. We don’t want to see additional and prolonged disruptions for our local businesses.”
Smyth said that police have been working co-operatively with the protest organizers, and that an estimated 50-70 vehicles — a mix of semi trucks, passenger vehicles, and farm tractors — were occupying an area between Broadway and Memorial Boulevard with minimal traffic disruptions.
“We’ve experienced no real problems right now,” Smyth said.
“We’ve allowed the protesters to utilize Memorial Boulevard to stage — to some degree — (their protest) from Broadway to York.
“At this time the organizers have been quite cooperative with police and we’re co-existing there.”
The city said there have been few disruption in other city services, aside from some re-routing of Winnipeg Transit in the area.