Two prominent Freedom March organizers strategized as part of a coordinated team to shut down downtown Ottawa from the very beginning of the protest, the Crown argued Wednesday as lawyers presented their closing arguments in the criminal trial.
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are co-charged with mischief, intimidation and counselling others to break the law. Mr. Barber is also charged with counselling others to disobey a court order.
The Crown alleges that the two conspired so closely together that the evidence against one of them should apply to the other as well.
Crown attorney Tim Radcliffe read aloud text messages the two organizers exchanged during the second day of the protest.
In an exchange, Mme Lich asked Mr. Barber to go with her to the “command center.” “They have a strategy to paralyze the city. I don’t want to make those decisions myself,” Radcliffe read from the text message sent by Mr.me Lich to Mr. Barber on January 30, 2022.
The text message suggests “she has the authority to make this decision, but she doesn’t want to exercise that authority alone,” Radcliffe said.
“And who is it addressed to? Mr. Barber,” he added.
What followed was weeks of blockades around downtown Ottawa, the Crown said, although the defence stressed that not all streets in the federal capital were blocked.
The Freedom Convoy demonstration drew thousands of protesters and large trucks to Ottawa, prompting attempts by police to maintain order.
The court heard there was excessive noise from crowds, idling engines and honking horns, an overwhelming smell of diesel and smoke, and that some Ottawa residents and businesses were experiencing harassment.
The protesters were opposing health restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination and health measures taken by the federal government.me Lich and Mr Barber had said they would not leave until those constraints were reversed.
Both were arrested shortly before police launched a massive operation to end the protest.
The defense is expected to begin its closing arguments later Wednesday.