Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said in a news conference that Canada for the first time invoked the Emergencies Act to bring an end to trucker-led protests against COVID-19 mandate and restrictions. 

Such action came after Canadian police arrested 11 people with a "cache of firearms" blocking a border crossing with the United States.

The historic act will be used to protect critical infrastructure such as borders and airports from the blockades and the government will enable the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to enforce municipal bylaws, Trudeau said, dismissing the involvement of military force.

The measures also include giving banks the power to suspend or freeze accounts of blockade supporters without a court order, and force crowdfunding platforms and cryptocurrencies to follow anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the same event that companies with trucks involved in the illegal blockades will have their corporate bank accounts frozen, and their insurance suspended.

The Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in the 1980s, provides special powers to respond to emergency scenarios affecting public welfare (natural disasters, disease outbreaks), public order (civil unrest), and international emergencies or war emergencies.

The "Freedom Convoy" started with Canadian truckers protesting against mandatory vaccination to cross the border between Canada and the United States.

But its demands now include an end to all COVID-19 prevention and control measures and, for many of the protesters, for the toppling of Trudeau's Liberal government – only five months after he won re-election.

The truckers have found support among conservatives and vaccine mandate opponents across the globe, even as COVID-19 measures are being rolled back in many places

In Paris, over the weekend, police fired tear gas and issued hundreds of fines in an effort to break up convoys coming from across France.

The Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria have also seen copycat movements, and Belgian authorities said Monday they had intercepted 30 vehicles as police scrambled to stop a convoy of trucks.

Some U.S. truckers are reported to mull a protest for March. 

(With input from agencies)