Police have moved in to clear and arrest the remaining protesters near a key U.S.-Canadian border bridge as they try to end one of the main protests that have broken out across Canada and the world against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions.
Windsor police said arrests were being made, and vehicles were being towed just after dawn near the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. The bridge is the busiest border crossing to the U.S. It’s responsible for 25% of all trade between the U.S. and Canada, carrying nearly 8,000 trucks with more than $323 million in goods every single day.
About $100 million of that is auto parts, engines, and vehicles coming from the Motor City. Police barricades remained, and it was not immediately clear when the bridge might be opened to traffic entering Canada. In Canada’s capital, Ottawa, the ranks of protesters swelled to what police said was 4,000 demonstrators.
“Enforcement actions continue at the demonstration area with arrests being made,” Ontario’s Windsor Police said in a tweet. “There will be zero tolerance for illegal activity. The public should avoid the area,” it added in separate post.
Television images Sunday morning showed officers arresting the few protesters who remained near the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — the busiest border crossing to the U.S., the Associated Press reported. Only two pickup trucks and less than a dozen protesters blocked the road to the bridge before police moved in, according to the AP.
Afterward, police barricades remained and it was not immediately clear when the bridge might be opened. By Sunday afternoon there were still a small group of demonstrators in Windsor, and officials had not announced when the bridge would reopen. “Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador bridge came to an end,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a statement Sunday. He said when the bridge would reopen was up to police and border officials.
