Lich, Barber Trial: Ottawa Police Officer Says Convoy Protesters ‘Hostile’ When Told to Leave

Police, including riot control officers and an armoured vehicle, take action to clear away Freedom Convoy protesters from downtown Ottawa on Feb. 19, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Freedom Convoy protesters reacted with hostility when police gave them notice to disperse, an Ottawa police officer testified at the trial of protest organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber on Oct. 27.

“There was more of a crowd being formed. It was very, very hostile at that point in time, so hostile that the liaison team on the ground made the decision to pull out of the area, and we didn’t continue messaging at that time just due to the yelling and the screaming and swearing,” Sgt. Jordan Blonde said.

“It was very hostile. Something I certainly don’t want to repeat again,” he added, referring to a crowd that was being formed on Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, in the vicinity of Parliament Hill.

Ms. Lich and Mr. Barber, two of the most well-known organizers of the trucker convoy protest that took place from late January to mid-February 2022, are charged with counselling to disobey a court order, counselling to obstruct police, and mischief that interferes with the use and enjoyment of property.

On Feb. 14, 2022, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time since the law’s passage in 1988, to put an end to the large-scale protest against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.

Mr. Blonde told the court that on Feb. 16 and 17, he was tasked with handing out arrest notices to protesters to encourage them to vacate the Ottawa downtown core.

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The police officer described the protesters’ mood as “very upset” and “quite hostile,” particularly on the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive, just west of the Parliament Hill area.

“The majority of those individuals that I dealt with and saw at Rideau and Sussex on that date were yelling, screaming, very upset about the notices being put out,” he said.

Mr. Blonde described seeing one protester put a notice in a toilet that had been placed in the middle of the street near the parked vehicles. He also said that, as the police officers walked through the area giving out notices, one protester followed them around and encouraged other protesters not to take the notices.

He tried to tell the protesters that they would be arrested if they stayed, he said, but many of them were “adamant about getting arrested,” so he attempted to explain what would happen if they are taken into police custody.

The police officer said efforts to warn protesters about arrests were ultimately abandoned for “safety reasons” on Feb. 17. The next day, hundreds of police began a massive operation to clear protesters from Ottawa’s downtown core, including mounted police and officers on foot who advanced on the crowds.

The trial is expected to resume on Oct. 31.