19.75C Vancouver 19.75C VancouverFeb 2, 2022 8:14 PM - The Canadian Press
A protest blocking the highway at Alberta's main border crossing into the United States has thinned out but remains in place, a day after Mounties tried to disperse truckers and others who want COVID-19 restrictions dropped.
About 40 vehicles are jamming up the southbound lane near Coutts and another 60 or so are tying up the northbound lane.
The numbers are fewer than on Tuesday when some truckers left after police said they would begin making arrests.
That threat of arrests prompted chaos in another location: a number of vehicles north of the blockade breached a police barricade to race down the highway to join the protest.
Police have beefed up that barricade: there are now 20 police cruisers lined up fender to fender across both lanes and the median, accompanied by a similar number of uniformed officers.
Demonstrators began parking their vehicles on Saturday _ in solidarity with similar events in Ottawa and countrywide, to protest vaccine and mask mandates.
