Canadian police arrived Saturday to expel protestors who had blocked Canada-U.S. border crossing crossings. Windsor police Twitter Saturday afternoon, reported that officials began issuing tickets to those vehicles left parked in the area.
Demonstrators spent the night at the Ambassador Bridge, crossing the river between Detroit, Ontario and Windsor, Ontario in defiance to new warnings to end their blockade. This disrupted traffic flow and forced both sides of the auto industry to reduce production. Many of them fled as police arrived shortly after sunrise on Saturday.
A man wearing “Mandate Freedom” & “Trump 2024”, spray-painted on his car, left the scene as protesters began to dismantle a small, tarp-covered camp. To the cheers and chants “Freedom!” a trucker honked his horn while he too drove off.
Protests in Ottawa, downtown Ottawa, and elsewhere targeted vaccine mandates, coronavirus restrictions, and angered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who called the protesters a fringe of Canadian society.
Protests are still being held outside of the country. Similar rallies were organized in France, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of possible truck protests in the United States.
Windsor police stated that no one was arrested by mid-morning, but they urged people not to cross the bridge. Avoid the area!
Daniel Kosss was one of those who stayed over. He said that the protest had brought attention to COVID-19 mandates, and that he was pleased it remained peacefully.
Koss stated, “It’s win-win.” “The pandemic is currently rolling down, they can remove all the mandates and everyone’s happy. The government does the right things, and all the protesters are happy.”
He stated that he believed most people would disperse orderly, “because it’s not our intention to cause a huge problem.”
However, protestors arrived in greater numbers late Saturday morning with flags and shouting. The bridge was not attacked by police officers, but they did continue to keep people from it.
A judge ordered that the blockade of pickup trucks and cars be ended. Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared an emergency, which allows for fines up to 100,000 Canadian dollars as well as imprisonment for those who illegally block roads, bridges, walkways or other critical infrastructure.
He tweeted Friday, “The right not to protest doesn’t outweigh our right to get food fuel and goods across the border.”
“That is why we ensure that our police have all the tools and power necessary to solve this problem and restore order.”
The Ambassador Bridge, which handles 25% of all trade between the United States and Canada, is the most busy U.S.-Canadian border crossing.
