Canadian police who succeeded this weekend in clearing “Freedom Convoy” trucks from the Ambassador Bridge began arresting blockaders who remained on foot Sunday morning.
Only about 30 demonstrators had remained overnight in freezing temperatures, and police had set up cement barriers to prevent vehicles from getting back on the bridge.
Authorities had said they were trying to avoid any kind of violent clash as they slowly pushed the anti-vaxx, anti-lockdown demonstrators further from the bridge that accounts for one-fourth of all trade between Canada and the U.S.
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“The priority is still on protecting human life and that includes the demonstrator, despite anyone’s feeling that it might be gratifying to escalate the actions unnecessarily,” a top police official told the CBC on Saturday night.
By Sunday morning, however, it seemed their patience had worn thin, and officers began arresting those who were blocking roads to the bridge either with their vehicles or their bodies.
On Sunday afternoon, the mayor of Windsor, on the Canadian side of the border, tweeted, “Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end. Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination.”
The White House also released a statement noting that the “Canadian authorities intend to reopen the Ambassador Bridge today after completing necessary safety checks,” and noting, “most protesters have been cleared ... barriers are being removed, and the corridor is being secured.”
The bridge over the Detroit River has been shut for a week, snarling supply lines and causing economic hardship for businesses on both sides of the border. A court on Friday ordered the convoy to clear the bridge.
Meanwhile, the convoy movement was gaining steam in other countries, with trucks from Michigan to France taking to the roads in opposition to COVID-19 restrictions.
