Free Republic

COUTTS, Alta.— Mounties in Alberta say they swept in to make arrests and seize weapons and ammunition as an already tense blockade near the Coutts border crossing was about to escalate dangerously. The RCMP said they had arrested more than a dozen people by Monday evening in and around Coutts who were associated with the protest, had access to a large collection of guns and were willing “to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade.” “We knew what was about to happen or inevitably to happen, and we acted as soon as we...

Four “Freedom Convoy” protesters with an arsenal of guns who were ready to “use force against the police” have been charged with conspiring to commit murder, Canadian authorities said. The group were among 11 arrested on Monday at the now-cleared border blockade in Coutts, Alberta, just north of Montana, who were protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Tuesday in a statement. Chris Carbert, 44, Christopher Lysak, 48, Jerry Morin, 40, and Anthony Olienick, 39, are facing the charges over threats made against the RCMP, the department said. Carbert, Lysak, and Olienick yet to have a...