Ottawa convoy protest organizer Tamara Lich denied bail

Tamara Lich, a major organizer of the so-called Freedom Convoy, was denied bail Tuesday morning in Ottawa.

Lich, the Alberta woman behind a now-halted GoFundMe campaign that raised over $10 million to support the protest in Ottawa, was arrested and charged Thursday with counselling to commit mischief.

Before her arrest, she told journalists she wasn’t concerned about being arrested, didn’t think the protest was illegal and also said her bank account was frozen.

On Tuesday, the judge said she was not convinced Lich would go home, stay there and stop her alleged counselling. She’s scheduled to be back in court March 2.

Downtown Ottawa is starting to return to normal after police flooded the core over the weekend, towing more than 100 vehicles that didn’t leave and charging more than 100 people.

Businesses that had been forced to close are starting to reopen, light rail is running again through downtown and the area controlled by police checkpoints has shrunk.