BREAKING: Ottawa Police Chief resigns

Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly has resigned, on the 19th day of the freedom convoy in the city's downtown core.

The CBC reported that Sloly resigned due to accusations of bullying and volatile behaviour. The police chief made a public announcement later Tuesday.

"It has been a difficult journey, but I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished," said Sloly in a statement.

"Since the onset of this demonstration, I have done everything possible to keep this city safe and put an end to this unprecedented and unforeseeable crisis," he said.

Last week, Sloly said that there was "absolutely [no]" plans to resign as police chief, telling Newstalk 580 CFRA that he "came here to do a job."

"I came here to do a job and I’m going to get that job done all the way through," he said, according to CTV News. "Absolutely committed, have a great team here, great officers, we’ve got great partners in the city. We’re going to get this done."

Sloly was chief of police with the Ottawa Police Service since October 28, 2019

The police chief was criticized last week by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms' John Carpay, who highlighted the police force's efforts to work with GoFundMe to remove funds from the Freedom Convoy truckers.

"Chief Sloly publicly accuses the truckers of engaging in 'unlawful' and 'harmful' activities, and of promoting 'hatred' and 'violence,'" but provides no examples, facts, or arrests to support his accusations," wrote Carpay.

"The Chief calls for 'order' to be 'restored' even though 'order' has not been lost. His fact-free rhetoric includes mention of an 'increasingly volatile' and 'increasingly dangerous' situation. As though speaking for an oppressive regime, Chief Sloly has repeatedly called for an 'end' to the exercise of the fundamental Charter freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly by Canadians in their own capital city," he wrote.