this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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The trial for the leaders of the so-called Freedom Convoy protest that gridlocked Canada's capital for weeks in 2022 began on Tuesday.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber each face counts of mischief and obstructing police.

The two were part of a group that led a convoy of lorries to Ottawa to protest against Covid-19 measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.

Experts say the outcome of the trial could reverberate beyond the courts.

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[–] ratz30@lemmy.world 71 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I hope they throw the book at them. This shit was so awful for the people in downtown Ottawa.

[–] DoctorTYVM@lemmy.world 63 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ottawans are used to protests. It's a capital city, there's serveral protests going in any given day.

What they weren't used to was the neverending train horns, the constant street blocking, the assaults, the destruction of property, and the constant threats. They lasted way longer than I would have.

Fuck the convoy and fuck the people like Poilievre who supported them.

[–] ratz30@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

Here here! I was safe and sound in the suburbs, but they even made it out my way now and then. Can't imagine how awful it was for my friends downtown.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So many people posted on Reddit that they weren't getting any sleep. It's a form of terrorism, frankly. Not all terrorism is deadly.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't want to detract from the severity of other forms of terrorism, but sleep deprivation can absolutely cost human lives as well, especially when it's on the scale of a whole city section.

[–] Rilichu@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Definitely don't ever underestimate how quickly lack of sleep can mess you up mentally and physically.

Inflicting sleep deprivation on a person is widely recognized as a form of torture by human rights organizations as well as the UN.

[–] ComradeBunnie@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago

Just one night of my partner disrupting my sleep with his own sleep issues, and I start to have delirious thoughts that he is a CIA torture agent.

I can't even begin to imagine what these poor Ottawans must have been going through at the time.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

That is really messed up.

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 13 points 1 year ago

What's the maximum jail time they could face? Please say 22 years...

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The main charge that Ms Lich and Mr Barber will have to defend is that of mischief, defined under Canadian law as the wilful destruction, damaging, obstruction, or interference of property.

Separate protests also blocked a key US-Canada border crossing near Detroit, angering the White House and disrupting the flow of goods.

They came to an end after Mr Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act - the first time the Canadian law has been used - which allowed police to clear the streets and the government to impose bans on public assembly and freeze the bank accounts of protesters.

In Tuesday's opening remarks, Crown prosecutor Tim Radcliffe accused the two of directing people to Ottawa and asking them to stay and "hold the line".

But during a July bail hearing, an Ontario court judge said that due to this "very unusual case, there is significant uncertainty about the degree to which she will be held culpable for the assortment of alleged bad acts committed over many weeks by various persons in a crowd of thousands".

Both Ms Lich and Mr Barber, along with other named organisers, are facing a separate C$300m ($222m; £175m) civil lawsuit brought against them by Ottawa residents over the disruptions in the city.


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