With protesters in Ottawa showing no signs of leaving, Peter Sloly has decided he has to go.

Sloly resigned as police chief on day 19 of the demonstration.

Residents had expressed increasing outrage at the police response to the occupation, with some also criticizing the decision to allow trucks onto and park on Wellington Street in the first place.

”Anytime leaders have to leave in the middle of a crisis, it is alarming,” says downtown city councillor Catherine McKenney.

”What we’ve witnessed over the past two and a half weeks is almost a paralysis on the part of the chief to respond.”

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, who was Sloly’s boss with Toronto Police, is saddened by the news.

”I’ve known Chief Sloly for 25 years … He’s a fundamentally decent man faced with a very difficult job,” says Blair.

”At the same time, I think there is an important job yet to be done, to restore order and provide effective policing services.”