New Evidence: Convoy organizers repeated calls for 'peaceful' demonstrations
Chris Barber can be seen telling supporters to 'work with the public' in TikTok videos used by defence, who previously framed the convoy as 'anything but peaceful.'
Defence counsel played videos of their client's calls for peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday, the seventh day of Barber's and Tamara Lich's trial in Ottawa, in which the two defendants are charged with crimes concerning their organizational roles with the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest.
"We need to make sure it's peaceful, no ifs, ands, or buts," Barber said in a selfie video he published to TikTok in February during the Freedom Convoy. The video was played for the court as part of Barber's defence counsel's cross-examination of Sgt. Joanne Pilotte, an Ottawa Police Service (OPS) officer invited as a witness for the prosecution.
Pilotte is shown another TikTok video of BigRed1975. It appears to be CB speaking about approaching Ottawa from Thunder Bayc mentioned the prime minister’s “fringe minority” comments, and commenting that law enforcement is helping the truckers. Pilotte says that detective Benson…
— The Democracy Fund (@TDF_Can) September 13, 2023
Pilotte testified that she downloaded specific videos posted online featuring Barber and Lich as per her superiors' requests as part of the OPS's criminal investigation of the two organizers.
Barber also said Freedom Convoy supporters must "work with the public" and "work with law enforcement" to maintain a peaceful status.
He emphasized the need for trucker demonstrators to minimize impacts on residents, including the halting of horn honking in the evenings. "The public didn't ask for this," he added. "The government asked for it."
"The only way out for the government is a January 6-style insurrection," Barber stated, warning demonstrators against giving in to what he said were deliberate provocations by the protesters' detractors designed to induce violence in order to denigrate the protest as unruly. "We have the public on our side," he said.
He repeated, "it's peaceful, we don't want any trouble."
In its opening statement, the Crown described the Freedom Convoy as "anything but peaceful."
Barber and Lich are being charged with mischief, obstructing police, intimidation, and counselling others to commit the same.
The Crown played videos of press conferences featuring Freedom Convoy organizers, including Barber and Lich. Protest volunteers speaking at the conference emphasized the importance of "independent media" to challenge narratives pushed by "mainstream" and "legacy media.”
One speaker described the Freedom Convoy as "a moment for independent media to shine" in contrast to standard interpretations from outlets such as CBC, Global and CTV.
Lawrence Greenspon, Tamara Lich's lawyer, told Rebel News, "Mischief is a low-level criminal charge, but it is a criminal charge, and Tamara Lich has already spent 49 days in jail. There’s a lot of court time and resources being spent on this prosecution."
Government is easily spending millions of dollars on this entire investigation/prosecution of Tamara Lich/Chris Barber: salaries/benefits for judge, prosecution, and court staff, amd hundreds (likely thousands) of hours spent by cops compiling "evidence".https://t.co/TWDiMnjMOA
— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) September 11, 2023
Pilotte's testimony indicated that the OPS began its criminal investigation of the Freedom Convoy — presumably targeting Barber and Lich — as early as February 12, 2022, approximately two weeks before the federal invocation of the Emergencies Act wherein police brutally shut down the protest.
Lawrence Greenspon, lawyer for Tamara Lich spoke with @rkraychik after day 7 of trial.
— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) September 13, 2023
“Tamara Lich has already spent 49 days in jail. There’s a lot of time, a lot of court time and a lot of resources being spent on this prosecution”.https://t.co/52zo5bkxKr pic.twitter.com/pvStfL5jPz
- By Ezra Levant
Support Tamara's Legal Defense
The Democracy Fund, a Canadian charity, is supporting Tamara Lich by crowdfunding her legal bills. The cost of expert legal representation is $300,000, which Tamara, an ordinary mom and grandma from Medicine Hat, Alberta, cannot afford. But we have a secret weapon: Lawrence Greenspon, one of Ottawa's top lawyers, is on Tamara's side. Lawrence is accustomed to handling complex and serious cases, but his team is expensive — and they are worth every penny. If you can, please chip in to help cover Tamara's legal fees.
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