Frustration mounts as blockade snarling access to U.S. border continues at Alberta port of entry

Frustration mounted Monday as motorists were stranded at a Canada-U.S. border crossing in a southern Alberta village, where traffic has been snarled and services disrupted by a protest against COVID-19 public health measures.

Since Saturday afternoon, motorists travelling to and from the United States have been caught in a large blockade of vehicles that choked off the highway from south of Lethbridge to the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts.

The demonstration is tied to an ongoing nationwide protest over federal rules for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Canadian truckers entering Canada from the U.S., which took effect earlier this month.

It mandates that truckers who are not fully vaccinated must get a PCR test and quarantine.

WATCH | No end in sight as protestors take over downtown Ottawa:

The blockade of vehicles has disrupted services and halted traffic at one of the busiest ports of entry in Canada.

Canadian trucker John Schwarz was caught up in it for 40 hours while coming back from Idaho. 

"These guys are basically holding us hostage, and nobody's doing anything about it," Schwarz told CBC News on Monday morning, and while stuck in the gridlock.

By Monday afternoon, RCMP said that protest organizers allowed some vehicles to leave although the border remains blocked.

"Through negotiations and continuous talks with the organizers of the event, in the last little bit, the organizers agreed to open up, and then some of the vehicles have been allowed to leave," RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters told CBC News.

"Some of these guys have been stuck here for for three days, and you know, no access to shower [or] food and away from their families. So it's good news for them."

Coutts Mayor Jim Willett told The Canadian Press on Monday that he's angry and frustrated because about 100 trucks lined up on Highway 4 were preventing a mail truck from entering Coutts and a school bus from leaving the village for the nearest school.

Willett also said the roughly 250 residents of Coutts hadn't been able to use the blocked road to get to the nearest grocery store, gas station and pharmacy.

"I'm disappointed, I think is the main thing," Willett said on the Monday edition of the Calgary Eyeopener.