UPDATE: Bail denied for convoy protest leader Tamara Lich

Update: 9:25 a.m. Tuesday, February 22

Bail was denied for convoy protest organizer Tamara Lich. She will remain in custody. Justice said she believes there is a substantial risk that Lich will either engage in illegal behaviour or counsel others to do so.

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Two of the leading figures of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests — Tamara Lich and Pat King — will be back in court for bail hearings on Tuesday.

An Ottawa judge is expected to decide whether to release both on bail after they spent the weekend in jail.

The 44-year old King, also from Alberta, is facing charges of mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to commit the offence of disobeying a court order and counselling to obstruct police. King livestreamed his own arrest on Facebook Friday.

Lich, one of the convoy organizers, is one of the individuals that created the GoFundMe page that lead to millions of dollars in donations to the convoy.

Earlier this month, GoFundMe removed the donations page and said they would begin offering full refunds to those that contributed to the over $10 million raised. The website said the reasoning for pausing and returning the funds was because the money raised was supporting “violence and other unlawful activity.”

Lich claimed the money raised would be allocated to help with fuel costs, food and lodgings for protesters.

Another prominent convoy organizer, Chris Barber, was granted bail last week on conditions he leave Ontario by Wednesday and did not publicly endorse the convoy. Barber is facing charges of counselling to disobey a court order and obstructing police.

Police arrested 196 people in Ottawa over the weekend as they cleared the demonstration that occupied downtown streets for nearly four weeks. Officers charged 110 individuals, 89 were released upon the condition they stay out of the red zone and 115 vehicles were towed.

Two of the people that were charged had been arrested on Friday, but were released and returned to the protest site where they were re-arrested and charged.

Officials in the city say residents can expect to see a large police presence for the foreseeable future. Ottawa police are reassuring businesses that closed their doors during the three week occupation of the downtown core that they should now feel safe to reopen.

The secured area has also been reduced to no longer include Byward Market. Those who have a “lawful” reason to be in the secured area will be let through.

Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell said on the weekend he would not commit to a timeline on when the protective fencing would be removed or when police measures would cease.

The House of Commons voted to approve the use of the Emergencies Act on Monday night.

The motion passed with support from the Liberal and NDP while Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois MPs voted against it. It will now move up to the Senate.

The emergency measures, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked last Monday, gives law enforcement temporary additional powers. Trudeau says his government has no intentions of keeping the act in place a day longer than they deem necessary.

At any point, the Senate, House or government could pull support and the extraordinary powers stemming from the emergencies law would be torn up.