Protesters hold down Coutts border for 5th day, Alberta-wide blockades rumored | Globalnews.ca

More officers have been called in to help with an illegal blockade at the Coutts border crossing, according to RCMP, as the protest enters its fifth day. ​

RCMP confirmed to Global News they’re aware of “sympathetic blockades” and other protests taking place across the province on Wednesday. It includes a potential blockade on Highway 1 to “gridlock the Trans Canada Highway between Banff and Canmore,” according to the organizers’ Facebook post.

Mounties were prepared to make arrests Tuesday at the border crossing but backed off when there were safety concerns.

Cpl. Curtis Peters said some vehicles left peacefully but others — including tractors — sped through police roadblocks to join the blockade.

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Alberta Premier Jason Kenney addresses Coutts trucker border standoff, says Mounties assaulted

RCMP said there also was a head-on crash and a person involved then assaulted another person.

Peters added some protesters have harassed the local mayor and his wife by showing up at their home and taking photos through their windows.

He says the behaviour is not very Canadian.

“The fight is not with the mayor and his wife,” Peters told reporters Tuesday night in Coutts.

“They should not be subjected to that kind of harassment in their own home.”

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett said the situation is “not as bad as it sounds,” though he would have waved at the protesters had he been home.

“We get the usual online stuff that you would expect from protesters,” he said Wednesday morning to Global News Calgary.

“I did receive a couple of emails … (​rather) text messages that were borderline, but not borderline — they were threats. You have to expect that when you get a cross-section of the populace, like we have here right now. Emotions are running high.”

Some of those involved in the blockade are protesting mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for cross-border truck drivers as well as broader public health measures. Under rules that came into force in January, Canadian truckers must be fully vaccinated to cross the border without a pre-arrival PCR test and to avoid quarantine, while unvaccinated U.S. truckers will be turned back.

Premier Jason Kenney said he also opposes the vaccine mandate for truckers, but protesters should find a lawful way to make their point.

Other blockades are also expected to take place ​throughout the week in support of the one taking place at Coutts.

—with files from the Canadian Press