06 September 2023 - Trial begins for Canada 'Freedom Convoy' organisers
Canada Tries Leaders of Anti-Vaccine Protest That Jammed Ottawa
Ian Austen (The New York Times, 05/09/2023)
A criminal trial opened on Tuesday for two Canadians who were key organizers of the trucker convoy that paralyzed the country’s capital, Ottawa, for nearly a month in early 2022, upturning the lives of many residents and creating economic hardship for local businesses and workers.
The 22-day protest, which began in response to mandatory vaccinations for cross-border truck drivers, blocked major roads around the Canadian Parliament and was among the longest and most costly anti-vaccine protests in the world.
Day 2 of ‘Freedom Convoy’ trial hears police were told: ‘Not one inch’
David Baxter (Global News, 06/09/2023)
The Ottawa Police Service incident commander in charge of the “Freedom Convoy” response told the court hearing a trial of two of its organizers that work to shrink the footprint was undermined after the first weekend by an order to not to give an inch of downtown.
Scope of convoy protest 'exceeded expectations,' co-organizers' trial hears
David Fraser (CBC News, 06/09/2023)
A senior Ottawa police officer who helped oversee operational plans in the early days of what became known as the "Freedom Convoy" says the number of people and vehicles in the downtown core "exceeded expectations."
Tamara Lich’s lawyer says testimony shows clear efforts by organizers to reduce convoy’s footprint in Ottawa
Kristy Kirkup (The Globe and Mail, 06/9/2023)
A defence lawyer for Tamara Lich, the architect of the 2022 convoy protest that shut down central Ottawa for more than three weeks, said Wednesday that testimony in court has shown organizers made an effort to reduce the demonstration’s footprint in the nation’s capital, but were not allowed to do so by police.