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.
I hope they throw the book at them. This shit was so awful for the people in downtown Ottawa.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That is really messed up.
I don’t support the convoy but didn’t they do what most large rallies do anyway? Make noise, block roads and make the news for weeks.
What comes of this court ruling could be dangerous for future protests for things that are truly important. Considering the charges for what seems to be minor crimes and not what was being reported at the time of inciting violence and smuggling I just don’t know what am I missing.
Most rallies don’t involve intentionally keeping locals awake at all hours with train horns. They also smashed windows of businesses that had pride flags, shat and pissed everywhere, threatened staff at one of our local homeless shelters demanding food, and one of my partner’s nursing colleagues recieved rape threats for walking to work in her scrubs and a mask.
Civil disobedience comes with (and often relies on) full knowledge that there will be legal consequences.
These chucklefucks just don’t think the rules apply to them since leftist protesters are the ones who normally get the book thrown at them.
