Crown prosecutors are set to continue their chief-in-examination of an officer who served as a liaison between police and convoy organizers. A protesting truck driver, centre, discusses with police liaison how to leave the area during a demonstration, part of a convoy-style protest participants are calling "Rolling Thunder", in Ottawa, Friday, April 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – The trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers is set to resume today with the continued testimony of an officer who served as a liaison between the Ottawa Police Service and demonstrators.
Sgt. Jordan Blonde, a police officer who described himself as a “secondary” contact for Barber, will be back on the stand today.
On Friday, Blonde described “hostile” scenes leading up to a police operation to forcibly remove demonstrators out of Ottawa’s downtown in the early 2022 protests against COVID-19 public-health measures.
Crown prosecutors are expected to continue questioning Blonde today, but defence lawyers say they won’t be able to cross-examine him until the judge makes a ruling on the admissibility of internal police documents that police claim are protected by solicitor-client privilege.
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are facing multiple charges including mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.
The Crown is seeking to prove that the two high-profile organizers had influence over the actions of protesting crowds.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.
