Recent state of emergency declared

This came about shortly after the Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson, declared a state of emergency on February 6. It was then that Watson said, "The situation at this point is completely out of control, because the individuals with the protest are calling the shots. They have far more people than we have police officers, and I've indicated to the chief that we have to be much more nimble and proactive when it comes to these activities."

Watson would go on to say, "we are outnumbered and we are losing this battle right now," as he went on to add, "We're in the midst of a serious emergency, the most serious emergency our city has ever faced, and we need to cut the red tape to get these supplies available to our police officers and to our public works staff."