Report: Leaked RCMP Messages Show Officers Giddy to Crush Freedom Convoy

A new report alleges that Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers participating in the destruction of the Freedom Convoy protest exchanged messages about the level of brutal force they would use on protesters.

In what The New York Times described as a “show of force,” Canadian authorities cleaned out the Freedom Convoy protest site in Ottawa on Saturday, resulting in 170 arrests.

Demonstrator David Paisley, 33, shared the details of his arrest, according to the Times, saying the officer “had a big military rifle, he pointed right at my chest, he yelled at me to get down, on the ground. It was like a movie scene.”

The tactics of the day were such that Ottawa police published a Twitter post asked members of the public to stop calling emergency numbers “to express displeasure about the police action to remove an unlawful assembly downtown.”

The Canadian political news and commentary website Rebel News said that it obtained screenshots of RCMP officers exchanging as they prepared to clear out protesters.

The Rebel News report acknowledged it had not been able to authenticate and had reached out to RCMP communications for comment.

The officers are reportedly members of the Musical Ride team, an equestrian troupe of RCMP members that normally performs at exhibitions to showcase and promote the “mounted police” history of the Law Enforcement