Truck blockade at Canada-US border ends

By Seyit Aydogan

TORONTO (AA) - A blockade that paralyzed the US-Canada border crossing in Coutts, Alberta ended Tuesday night as trucks and other vehicles left the area.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that the border was again open to traffic after being closed by truckers since Jan. 29 in protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and broader health restrictions.

After the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested 13 people and seized long guns, handguns, ammunition and body armor at the crossing Monday, one of the protest’s organizers, Marco Van Huigenbos, lifted the blockade Tuesday evening.

"Our objective was to be here peacefully. To keep that message going, we want to leave peacefully," Huigenbos told reporters as he began leaving with a long convoy of trucks.

"Glad to see that almost all protestors at the Coutts border crossing and nearby checkpoints have now gone home. This is great news for the hundreds of truckers who cross the border every day," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said on Twitter.

The convoy left a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers in an attempt to break the siege there and elsewhere in the country.