If policing can't end Ottawa's protest, then what can?

It wasn't the most confidence-inspiringofnews conferences.

On the sixth straight day of the protestthat hasimmobilized the core of the nation's capital and harassed local residents, Ottawa officials still gavenothingapproaching a timeline of when this all might come to an end.

"I can't give you a definitive, 'It's one day, it's two days. It's one week, it's two weeks,'"police Chief Peter Sloly told council members during a public briefingWednesday afternoon.

No sense of an end date isn't what anyone wanted to hear. Even more disturbing, the chief floated the unsettling idea that policing alone won't end this mess.

• Ottawans bracing as protest numbers expected to swell this weekend

The situation is fluid and potentially dangerous. Earlier this week, police apprehended and charged a man with a knife and baton.

While the number of protesters has shrunk to hundreds from thousands last weekend, those who remain set up on downtown streetswith their vehiclesseem determined to stay until they get what they want.

But what they want isn't exactly clear. Some insist the national vaccine mandate for truckers must be cancelled, others such as the organizers behind a Wednesday news releasewant generalCOVID-19 restrictions largely the provincial government's measures lifted.

Still others fantasize about overthrowing the Liberal government with the helpof the Governor General and the head of the Senate.

• Ottawa mayor would like protesters to move on,organizers say they're not going
• Sask. Premier says health restrictions on 'rights and freedoms' ending soon

Although police are in contact with some of the convoy "captains," these folks in no way represent all of the protesters in the city.The chief said participants areassociated with dozens and dozens of groups,not to mention the many "lone wolf" types who have attached themselves.

Police negotiations and finger-wagging from politicians at all levels of government haven't convinced the hardcore to roll out of town. So it may be understandable that Sloly, who's been open that his approach is to de-escalate and avoid violence, can't offer an end date to thissituation.

What's far less understandable is why Sloly would float the idea that politicians need to get involved in this protest for it to end, without quite saying so or stating plainly what he meant.

'Element outside of the police' needed, says chief

Here's exactly what he said: "The longer this goes on, the more I am convincedthere may not be apolicesolution to this demonstration."

WATCH | Ottawa's police chief on the hurdles to a solution:

There may not be a police solution to this demonstration

3 years ago

Duration 1:18

Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly says the hostile and volatile nature of the convoy protest means local police may be unable to bring it to an end without national assistance.

In fact, he said that a number of times. He explained that this protest isn't a mere local event butprovincial and national in scope. The demands being made by the protesters, however one may view them, are political.

And that's not any police chief's purview.

"I don't have a singular mandate in this city, this province or this country, to negotiate the end to any demonstration. There always needs to be an element outside of the police for any truly successful end to any demonstration, particularly one of this size," he said.

• Protest organizers dig in and say only politicians can clear Ottawa's downtown

But asked directly by reporters what he meant, he repeated some version of his above comment. Asked if by non-policing elements, he meant politicians or perhaps the military, he responded, "I think you just listed most of them right there."

He didn't elaborate.

WATCH | Ottawa's most recent former police chief on the protest:

Protest's 'potential for escalation is huge,' says former Ottawa police chief

3 years ago

Duration 6:45

Calling the situation in Ottawa 'volatile,' former police chief Charles Bordeleau says politicians taking photos with protesters are 'adding fuel to the fire.'

Calling in the military is a rare and unlikely scenario, unless the situation escalates to a level of ugliness nonewant to see.

Sloly did include asking for military help as an option,along with calling in the RCMP (no formal request has yet been made to either), requestingmore provincial police help, or filing for a court injunction.

He addedhe could only recall two incidents in recent history when the armed forces were dispatched: the Oka Crisisin 1990 and the October Crisisin 1970 not exactly reassuring historic examples.

So that leaves politicians.

It's not clear what Sloly is suggesting. Should Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or someone in his government speak with the protesters? That's not happening, say government sources. After all, somefly racist flags and have taken up the "F--k Trudeau" slogan.

WATCH | Some of Trudeau's comments on Monday:

Trudeau speaks out on anti-vaccine mandate convoy in Ottawa

3 years ago

Duration 1:46

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says hate speech and racist symbols must not be tolerated in Canada.

Does the chief think the federal governmentshould open a channel to discuss reducing pandemic restrictions? Again, this seems very unlikely.

Maybe the premier should step in? But Doug Ford is in another city and besides telling protesters to leave andcondemning hate symbols and disrespect ofmonuments,doesn't seem eager to engage.

It is certainly possible that Sloly is right, that some agencythat isn't his force or the OPP, or the RCMP, or the army needs to deal with these folks' demands. Clearly, pleading with them to leave for the good of the fed-up local community isn't working. But it's not responsible to float that possibility before he's ready to be more precise.

One reporter asked Slolyif the Prime Minister needs to get involved. The chief said"That's a question for politicians to decide."

It was a little late to be so circumspect. Mayor Jim Watson, who was at the same briefing and is a politician, didn't answer either.

So we're left with no clear end date for this protest, withcitizens starting to take things into their own hands by organizing their own protests, escorts and food deliveries, and with the police chief vaguely suggesting that some course of action other than policing will be needed.

Oh, and one more thing: This weekend, we expect protest reinforcements to come to town andcrowds in the downtown to swell again.

If police can't restore normalcy, then who's got the solution?