‘We wanted to leave peacefully’: Alberta border blockade near Coutts ends

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This article was published 14/02/2022 (1044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Coutts, Alta.— A group of remaining border blockade protesters stood outside the Smugglers Saloon on Tuesday morning and sang O Canada, to the tune of idling farm equipment across the street.

The little gathering of about 60 people was what remained of a blockade that appeared to be on its final day, after jamming cross-border traffic with Montana for more than two weeks in an effort to send an anti-vaccine mandate message.

The Canada Border Services Agency confirmed later Tuesday that the border was again open to traffic.

Monday had marked a turning point for the protesters after Alberta RCMP swept in and arrested 13 people near the blockade, seizing long guns, handguns, multiple sets of body armour, a machete and ammunition. The arrests happened over the course of about 24 hours at various locations near Coutts and no names have yet been released.

The small cell of people were willing “to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade,” police have alleged.

The arrests prompted the protesters to call it quits.

Marco Van Huigenbos, a town councillor in Fort Macleod and organizer at the blockade, said he wasn’t “feeling too great” on Tuesday morning; the cold elements and high stress had taken their toll.

“The infiltration of extreme elements, the RCMP finding firearms in the village of Coutts and the members that were associated with that who were involved in our movement, really changed things for us,” he said.

“We were always here peacefully and to control that narrative, we wanted to leave peacefully.”

Van Huigenbos said that some protesters there were aware that some involved in the movement “had more of a militant connection.”

As an example of what police say was the group’s “militant mindset,” RCMP said a large farm tractor and semi truck involved in the blockade had attempted to ram a police vehicle Sunday evening.

About 10 minutes north of the Coutts protest is another smattering of about 40 vehicles parked alongside Highway 4 closer to the town of Milk River.

Upside-down Canadian flags flapped in the gentle morning wind as the remaining protesters there began to mill about. Police said they expected these protesters to begin leaving Tuesday morning as well.

“We didn’t achieve everything we came for, but we won a lot,” said Van Huigenbos. “What we’ve started, it’s gonna snowball.”

Kieran Leavitt is an Edmonton-based political reporter for the Toronto Star. Follow him on Twitter: @kieranleavitt