If the Farfadaas blocked the Louis-Hippolyte-La-Fontaine bridge-tunnel twice rather than once during the pandemic, it is because their people were “beaten”, “royally attacked”, “randomly clubbed” and “gassed” by the police when they demonstrated peacefully against sanitary measures in downtown Montreal.
It is the “cornerstone” of the defense of the four members and former members of the opposition group to health measures, accused of mischief and conspiracy, for the events that took place in March 2021.
Steeve Charland, Mario Roy, Karol Tardif and Tommy Rioux, who are representing themselves without a lawyer, all admitted to having participated in the blocking of the bridge-tunnel, by immobilizing several vehicles on three wide lanes for about five minutes after a demonstration in the city center . Mr. Roy had also blocked the infrastructure for the first time on December 20, 2020, in the same way, and for the same reasons.
Mr. Roy, who had initially announced that he would have around fifty people testify in his defense, paraded three members and ex-members of the Farfadaas at the helm, all of whom came to explain how their participation in anti-sanitary measures demonstrations was ended in a fish tail when the riot police intervened.
It was in reaction to this alleged police brutality that the Farfadaas decided to block the tunnel after their demonstration in the city center. The “spontaneous” decision involved a very small circle of people, said Mr. Roy’s spouse, Nadia Leblanc-Bertin, called to the stand as a witness. The latter also claimed that on the day of the blockade, the vehicles in which the Farfadaas were seated stopped only because a man armed with a hammer attacked them by hitting their vehicles. She later changed her mind, after the Crown showed her video footage clearly showing that the Farfadaas first blocked traffic, and the Hammer Man intervened later.
Christiane Breard, known on social networks under the pseudonym Katou Katou, described the event in the tunnel as a “kind of demonstration”. There was never an invitation extended to others to participate in the blockade, and no one informed, or even asked, Mr.me Breard if she wanted to participate. “I understood that it was that made in the tunnel”, she testified.
Craftsman Richard Lajoie, a former Farfadaa nicknamed Pappy, who was responsible for making promotional items sold by the militant group throughout the pandemic, meanwhile came to say he was “royally attacked”, handcuffed and “beaten” by police during the December 2020 protest.
On several occasions, Judge Jean-Jacques Gagné questioned the relevance of the questions put by Mr. Roy to the witnesses, as well as that of the video evidence that he sought to present. “I understand that there was a message that wanted to be passed [par le blocage du tunnel] said the judge.
“I don’t have to decide if there was police brutality […] I don’t have to decide on the merits of your claims. We will not go there, ”he insisted, however, emphasizing to the accused that they must defend themselves from a charge of mischief, and that they are not before him to put the work on trial. police officers.
“Mr. Roy, stay focused on the elements in dispute, and it will be fine,” said the magistrate.
Fratricidal struggles
The fratricidal struggles within the Farfadaas seemed even more evident on this second day of the trial.
At the beginning of the afternoon, one of the co-defendants, Tommy Rioux, asked the judge to expel from the courtroom an influential former Farfadaa who had come to attend the trial, citing personal reasons.
In open war against the leader of the group Steeve Charland on social networks, Richard Lajoie appeared on the witness stand with a sweater bearing the inscription “We want to see the books”. Mr. Lajoie has been saying since the fall that the Farfadaas hid hundreds of dollars in donations collected by its members in Gatineau, during the blockade of truckers in early 2022. organization,” explained Mr. Lajoie during the break.
Two former members of the Farfadaas, André Desfossés and Patrick Dupuis, have already pleaded guilty to reduced charges of mischief for this event. In the halls of the courthouse, Mr. Roy called André Desfossés a “traitor” and a “no-ball” because he did not go “at the end of his claims” by deciding to plead guilty.
The trial continues on Wednesday.