On Monday, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland defended the freezings, which some financial-law experts warned could affect people unaffiliated with the protest.

“The way to get your account unfrozen is to stop being part of the blockade and occupation,” she added.

The RCMP said financial institutions had frozen over 200 accounts belonging to individuals and one held by a payment processor with a value of 3.8 million Canadian dollars, equivalent to $3 million. Police had also ceased transactions involving 253 cryptocurrency addresses.

Police said this week that the accounts they told financial institutions to freeze belong to individuals considered central organizers in the Ottawa blockade, and owners or drivers of vehicles who refused to leave the area, but not people who donated to the protest through crowdfunding Web sites.