Key bridge reopens as Ottawa protest persists

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing is open after protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 measures blocked it for nearly a week, but a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa, persists as city residents seethed over authorities’ inability to reclaim the streets. Demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions and other issues, have blocked several crossings along the U.S.-Canada border and hurt the economies of both nations. Police in Windsor, Ontario, arrested 25 to 30 protesters and towed several vehicles Sunday near the Ambassador Bridge, which reopened to traffic late Sunday night. A senior government official told The Associated Press that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet virtually with the leaders of Canada’s provinces on Monday morning.

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — Protesters opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions have withdrawn their vehicles from a key U.S.-Canadian border bridge but ramped up demonstrations in cities across Canada. That includes the capital, where police say they are awaiting reinforcements before ending what they described as an illegal occupation. The tense standoff at the bridge eased somewhat in the morning when police persuaded demonstrators to move the trucks they had used to barricade the busy crossing. But protesters reconvened nearby — with reinforcements — and were still choking off access from the Canadian side as night fell, snarling traffic and commerce for a sixth day. Similarly inspired protests were seen Saturday in France and the Netherlands.

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing , the Ambassador Bridge, crucial to both countries’ economies appears to be dissolving peacefully as Canadian police move in to disperse the nearly weeklong protest and demonstrators begin leaving without resistance.

Protesters had spent the night at the busiest crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, in a blockade that has disrupted the flow of traffic and goods and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production. Protests against pandemic restrictions in Canada have reverberated outside the country: Similarly inspired protests were seen in France and the Netherlands on Saturday, in addition to one launched earlier this week in New Zealand.