The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested 11 people and seized 13 long guns as well as handguns and a large quantity of ammunition in the province of Alberta on Tuesday.
The arrests were made when the police broke up a group that was supposedly prepared to use violence to back a truckers’ blockade at a border crossing with the United States.
According to a statement from the force, those arrested were reported to have “a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade.”
People gathered in protest against COVID-19 mandates and support of a protest against COVID-19 restrictions taking place in Edmonton, Alberta earlier this month.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday plans to invoke rarely used emergency measures to tackle ongoing protests that have shut border crossings, and also blocked the capital for more than two weeks, sources said.
One of the sources, who spoke off the record due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the aim of using the emergency powers was to provide federal police support to local and provincial forces, not to use the military.
