The defendants in the trial in Ottawa are Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. They are accused of vandalism, resisting the police and advising others to commit vandalism and intimidation.
The proceedings against the organizers of the Freedom Convoy protest organized by truck drivers in Canada last year will begin today in Canada, says a Canadian CBC News.
The protests lasted for three weeks, and with them a state of emergency was declared in Canada. Convoy protests also spread around the world. The Convoy demonstration was also seen in Finland.
In Canada, protesters, among other things, parked their trucks in the center of Ottawa and blocked traffic. The accompanying protests also blocked traffic at many border crossings between the United States and Canada.
The trial will last at least 16 days
The defendants in the trial in Ottawa are Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. They are accused of vandalism, resisting the police and advising others to commit vandalism and intimidation.
The trial is expected to last at least 16 days. Many of the charges relate to whether Lich and Barber encouraged protesters to defy police orders to stop blocking the streets, and whether the encouragement was illegal.
– The key issue will be whether the actions of the organizers of the peaceful demonstration will be sanctioned, Lich and Barber’s lawyers said in a joint press release.
Evidence in the trial will likely include hundreds of social media posts made by Lich, Barber and others. In addition, videos sent from the demonstration and private messages between the two were used as material.
Against the corona restrictions in the background
Freedom Convoy was born in 2022 by two truck drivers, Barber and by Bridgette Belton, from the TikTok conversation between. Both interlocutors were relieved of the corona restrictions.
Barber and Belton wanted to protest against the vaccine passport, as unvaccinated truck drivers would have been required to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon crossing the border.
When the protesters arrived in Ottawa, some of the protesters also wanted to overthrow the country’s government.
In addition to anti-vaccines, far-right and white supremacist groups also gained a lot of visibility at the demonstration.