Alberta premier says told Mounties being assaulted at Coutts trucker border standoff

Alberta's premier says a trucker blockade at the province's southern border with the US has turned violent.

Jason Kenney says he has been briefed that protesters were assaulting Mounties and that someone tried to ram a police cruiser.

He says while he respects peaceful protest, he condemns attacks on police.

The standoff at the Coutts (KOOTS) border crossing began Saturday, in support of others happening in Ottawa and countrywide to protest vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers and other COVID-19 public health measures.

RCMP had begun to peacefully break up the protest when events moved swiftly.

As some truckers left, others north of the blockade breached a police barricade and raced down the road to take their place.