Moe issues warning to potential North Portal protesters

The village of North Portal in southern Saskatchewan is expecting hundreds of protesters to gather this weekend by the Canada-U.S. border crossing.

“The protest will involve 60-80 semi-trucks and up to 120 passenger vehicles,” the Village of North Portal Facebook page said.

A large number of vehicles are expected to gather in Regina and make their way to the border crossing to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the country.

Premier Scott Moe said Friday he wants to warn all protesters who may be attending the event that things have changed.

“People have a right to peaceful protest (and) people have a right to have their voice heard. People do not have a right to break the law,” Moe said.

“The Emergencies Act is in place. I would hope that each of you has communicated with law enforcement or those involved in your convoy that your voice is being heard and is being heard within the confines of what the law is today.”

Moe confirmed there will be a large police presence and brought up the incident that happened in Coutts, Alta. where RCMP officers arrested more than a dozen people and seized weapons, ammunition and body armour.

“(It was a) very serious incident,” Moe said. “Credit to the RCMP and all of those involved in finding out and being able to zero in where there were a small group of individuals.

“RCMP were able to go in very quickly (and) neutralize those who had quite other intents with respect to the broader individuals that were attending the convoy.”

The premier said people who are breaking the law while protesting in the nation’s capital should also be dealt with by local law enforcement.

“People that are involved in the convoy in Ottawa, most certainly I trust that law enforcement is going to deal with them appropriately,” Moe said.

On Friday, police officers moved in on protesters and started to remove the blockades that had plugged streets in Ottawa for 22 days.