‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber’s trial begins on Tuesday

globalnews.ca:

Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder.“Hold the line,” said the petite figurehead of the “Freedom Convoy” movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser.She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in.Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill.But that parting phrase, which would go on to become the title of Lich’s recently published book, is likely to be at the heart of her criminal trial.Lich and fellow convoy organizer Chris Barber are scheduled to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday for their role in the three-week protest that overtook the streets around downtown and sparked a national emergency declaration.In the final days of the demonstration, as police began to order people to leave, organizers and supporters used “hold the line” as a rallying cry, as words of encouragement and as a salutation.Lich and Barber stand co-accused of mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.Several of the charges hinge on whether Lich and Barber encouraged protesters to defy police orders by remaining in Ottawa after authorities ordered everyone to clear the streets and, if they did, whether that was a criminal act.“We do not expect this to be the trial of the ‘Freedom Convoy,”’ Lich and Barber’s lawyers said in a joint statement Friday.“The central issue will be whether the actions of two of the organizers of a peaceful protest should warrant criminal sanction.”Lich told a federal inquiry