Toronto (Canada), September 5 (EFE).- The trial began this Tuesday in Ottawa against two of the organizers of the anti-vaccine and anti-government demonstration that paralyzed the Canadian capital in early 2022 with hundreds of trucks from all countries . all over the country.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are charged with damaging, intimidating and obstructing police, among other charges, for blockading downtown Ottawa for weeks with the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”

At the start of the trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Tim Radcliffe accused Lich and Barber of leading the blockade of Ottawa and overstepping their right to protest and freedom of speech to the point of committing “a variety of crimes.”

The trial is expected to last until October and dozens of witnesses will be called to testify by both the prosecution and the defence.

The occupation around the Parliament of Canada in central Ottawa brought the city to a standstill and only ended on February 19, 2022 after the massive intervention of Canadian Police riot forces to dislodge the protesters.

Lich, who was once part of a minority separatist party in the province of Alberta, and Barber, a truck driver also from the west of the country, were arrested by Canadian police on February 17, 2022, two days before the eviction. .

Initially, the so-called “Freedom Convoy” was called by a group of truckers opposed to the measures implemented by the authorities of Canada and the United States for drivers crossing the border between the two countries during the pandemic. .

The caravan of trucks started in the west of the country and was joined by hundreds of vehicles gathering in Ottawa between January 29 and 30, 2022.

In the Canadian capital, hundreds of heavy trucks and other vehicles drove to the gates of the Canadian Parliament and blocked the streets despite repeated orders from authorities to leave Ottawa.

The blockade drew hundreds of people and the demonstration turned into a protest with the active presence of extremist and far-right groups demanding the overthrow of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

Protests in Ottawa as well as in other parts of the country, including Windsor, one of the main border crossings with the United States, have forced the Canadian government to take the extraordinary step of invoking emergency law, which offers the authorities extraordinary measures. powers.