Organizer of the “Freedom Convoy” defends accusation of inciting honking during the protest

OTTAWA – Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber's lawyer told a judge Monday that a court order banning honking during protests in downtown Ottawa was not clear enough.

Barber and his co-defendant Tamara Lich are defending themselves against charges of property damage, intimidation and incitement to violate the law.

Barber is also accused of inciting others to violate a court order by urging protesters to honk their horns.

In a TikTok video posted during the protest, Barber told other protesters to keep their horns down due to the court order, but said if a large group of police showed up, they should keep their horns down and not stop.

“Let go of the horn, don't let go of it when you see a large force of police coming toward you,” Barber said in the video, which was played several times in the courtroom during the trial.

His lawyer, Diane Magas, said in her closing argument that there are exceptions to the order, including emergencies.

“There is some confusion about how broad the exception is,” she said, suggesting that Barber had attempted to explain the limits of the court's ruling “in his own words.”

This exception was not clear, she argued. The threat of unlawful arrest by riot police may have constituted an emergency in Barber's eyes.

“This is a stretch,” Judge Heather Perkins-McVey said when Magas made the argument on Monday.

In the days leading up to the TikTok video, Magas said, Barber's social media posts indicated he was increasingly fearful that riot police would show up and encircle protesters – a controversial law enforcement practice in which large crowds are rounded up in a confined area and kept under control.

She noted that it is okay to resist arrest if it is “an unlawful arrest.”

Magas also expressed doubts about whether everything Barber had to say about the matter was admitted as evidence. Not all of his TikTok videos were admitted as evidence, and Magas said the videos that were not disclosed to the court could potentially contain crucial and exculpatory messages.

The protest itself lasted six weeks, during which huge crowds of protesters and thousands of semi-trailers blocked intersections in downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill and in adjacent residential neighbourhoods.

Constant honking at all hours of the day and night was a defining feature of the entire trial, although the court heard that the noise subsided somewhat after the court order imposed a ban on honking.

Monday is the fourth day of closing arguments in the criminal trial against the two organizers, which has been legally complicated and characterized by dozens of ups and downs since it began last September.

The courtroom remained full of supporters, some of whom had participated in the protest themselves.

Magas told the court last week that her client was not responsible for the individual actions of the protesters.

On Monday, she pointed to several examples of Barber's attempts to help police remove trucks and other vehicles from residential streets and clear open roads.

“Every protest blocks roads,” Magas said at the end of her arguments.

She said Barber did everything in his power to “participate in a lawful protest and tried to help keep it lawful… He had no specific duty to leave the scene or to tell people to stop protesting if they were protesting legally.”

Protests, she said, are not time-limited.

The prosecution has already informed the court that Lich and Barber knowingly crossed the line between legal protest and illegal rioting. The prosecution will have the opportunity to respond to the defense's arguments before the end of the trial.

The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday, when Lich's lawyers will make their closing arguments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 19, 2024.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press