Authorities in Ottawa have arrested Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, two of the lead organizers of the Canadian truckers' Freedom Convoy, according to reports.
Attorney Chris Wilson, who has represented the convoy's organizers in past cases, confirmed in a tweet on Thursday evening that Barber was arrested. Hours after Barber’s arrest, the Freedom Convoy’s Twitter account posted a video showing the arrest of Lich.
Convoy spokesperson Tom Marazzo said in an online press conference that Barber was charged with criminal mischief.
The protests started as a demonstration by truck drivers opposed to the federal government’s requirement of Covid-19 vaccination for drivers crossing the U.S.-Canada border, but became a large movement as more people from across the country joined the cause to remove all Covid mandates and restrictions.
Police made several more arrests on Feb. 17, but many protesters still remain in Ottawa.
[Update: Reports on social media are saying that many of the arrests are fake as protesters are being handcuffed and then driven away and dropped off 15 to 20 minutes outside of Ottawa without being charged.]
Listen to this! Share! pic.twitter.com/pZOB8B5JsI
— Wendy B#RejectTheReform#NoVaccineMandates (@WendyB89696502) February 19, 2022
Barber and Lich are also listed among three protest organizers named in the class action lawsuit filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by lawyer Paul Champ on behalf of his client Zexi Li, a public servant.
The arrests came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, marking the first time the sweeping measure has been used since becoming law in 1988.
"After instituting some of the most diabolical Covid restrictions in the world, Justine has the dubious distinction of invoking 'the never-used Emergencies Act,' martial law, in essence, to quash peaceful, democratic civil disobedience, with nary a democratic debate in the People's House of Commons," WND's Ilana Mercer noted.
Unvaccinated Canadians "have been locked out of society, turned into untouchables. They cannot travel within their own country, work for their own government, attend university without being shamed and segregated, or take employment in the health sector, public or private," Mercer wrote.
Trudeau has "done this evil with vim and venom. Never before have I heard a Western leader boil over with bile for his mostly-white, working-class countrymen," Mercer added. "With his daily invective, Trudeau outdoes the Democrats, stateside. Having libeled the truckers as racists, misogynists, insurrectionists and confederate sympathizers – Trudeau likewise regularly calls the unvaccinated racists, misogynists and anti-science extremists, even pondering whether he should 'tolerate these people.' "
Mercer continued:
"Alas, the Blue does not always defend you. Theft's the theme: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson had instructed his goons to steal private property from the truckers. Shameless armed police officers and firefighters descended on the protesters to pilfer thousands of liters of fuel from these heroes struggling to keep from freezing in near-arctic temperatures.
"Not only is the tinpot dictator Trudeau currently moving to arrest protesters – but he is freezing private property in the form of funds belonging to these brave, working-class individualists."
Yet the Freedom Convoy rolls on, province-by-province.
"The indomitable resistance is toppling the regimen of restrictions and discrimination. Bickering words from Ontario Premier Doug Ford notwithstanding, the truckers he derides are leading the once-Free World's resistance against a tyranny unprecedented in recent memory," Mercer wrote.
"Picture our heroes. On the one hand, you have working men and women, who already do the most dangerous of jobs, plainly often poorly clothed, trying to keep warm, as the Ottawa Gestapo steal their fuel jerricans and their firewood. Yet wave the Maple Leaf Flag patriotically the truckers do, as their loathsome overlords level the worst possible pejoratives at them.
"The world owes Canada's finest a debt of gratitude."
Protest organizer Chris Barber taken into police custody on Albert Street, in the last hour. pic.twitter.com/YiXtIyYNH0
— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) February 17, 2022
Free Press International
