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    Police Bash Freedom Convoy With Midnight Raid

    By 4 Mins Read

    This past Sunday, the Freedom Convoy protests along the Canada-U.S. border crossing located in Coutts, Alberta, has disbanded and left in the wake of a harsh late-night raid carried out by Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a house nearby to the protests where a group of over 11 people was taken into custody and two trucks were confiscated.

    Sydney Fizzard, a video journalist with Rebel News who was staying with the truckers embedded in Coutts,  was the first to report of the midnight raid by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that was moving into Coutts for a then clandestine reason.

    Fizzard quickly posted a clip of himself running through the police line, highlighting a video of police gathered in a big huddle with some of the officers in full tactical gear as they stood close by the entrance to the site of the blockade.

    Fizzard then took to Twitter to post a clip of the front of the Smuggler’s Saloon out in Coutts, which was the center point and meeting place for the organizers for the blockade and served as a focal point where protesters gathered together. Fizzard then ran out of the saloon and filmed the RCMP police line that was established outside the building.

    “Witnessed 1 arrest, and the seizure of 1 tractor + 1 semi-truck at the hands of police,” Fizzard stated in an early morning tweet. “[W]ill know more after speaking to the legal defence in the morning, took place in Coutts where the blockade is restricting border access.” The tweet from Fizzard also included a series of complied video clips of the events from that evening: protestors speaking to police officials, protestors belting the national anthem of Canada as police hustled out, an officer of the RCMP in full tactical gear standing guard near several trucks, a tractor from a farm rigged with a snowplow with the word “freedom” painted on it, a group of individuals playing a game of hockey in the road, police officials taking truckers into custody, a truck being removed from the site by police, another tractor being pulled out followed closely by a police car, and a clip of the confiscated vehicles in an impound yard well away from the border.

    Directly afterward, Fizzard posted footage of a police perimeter that was set up around the outskirts of Coutts.

    “Multiple arrests, containment zone was set up around Coutts, as a warrant was acted on by police,” Fizzard stated directly.

    Canada Global News issued a report that RCMP raided multiple trailers in the wee hours of the morning on Monday and took control of a large weapons cache which included 13 “long guns,” handguns, a machete, a large amount of ammo, and many set of body armor. At least two more weapons were taken later that day. Global News also went on to report that one truck and a tractor had been taken in the wake of attempting to ram police vehicles.

    RCMP put forth their own comments on the raid:

    The Alberta RCMP recently became aware of a small organized group within the larger Coutts protest. Information was received that this group had access to a cache of firearms with a large quantity of ammunition. The group was said to have a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade. This resulted in an immediate and complex investigation to determine the extentof the threat and criminal organization.

    As a result of this investigation, the Alberta RCMP executed a search warrant during the early hours of Feb. 14, on three trailers associated to this criminal organization. This resulted in the arrest and detainment of 11 individuals.

    RCMP also took the chance to talk about the impounding of the two vehicles, stating confirmation that both of them had been used in attempts to assault officers. The drivers of the semi-truck were taken into custody, but the driver of the tractor fled but has been identified. RCMP issued blame for the incident on the “militant mindset of a small segment of the protest”:

    An example of the militant mindset of a small segment of the protest, earlier in the evening, at approximately 8:00 p.m., a large farm tractor and a semi truck, both involved in the blockade, attempted to ram a police vehicle. The police officer was able to reposition and avoid the collision. RCMP officers followed the suspects to a location where the protesters were gathered. The driver of the tractor was identified and we are actively working to locate him so he can be taken into custody. The Alberta RCMP have seized the farm tractor and semi truck involved in this incident.

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