Police clear ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters from key U.S.-Canada border crossing, but it has still not reopened

Still, the White House issued a statement Sunday afternoon from homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall that “Canadian authorities intend to reopen” the bridge Sunday “after completing necessary safety checks.”

Sherwood-Randall said both countries had discussed the “imperative of taking swift, strong action and deterring future blockade.”

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said earlier that cross-border traffic would resume when police determined “it is safe to do so” now that “our national economic crisis” at the Ambassador Bridge has ended.

“There will be zero tolerance for illegal activity,” police said in a statement.

Elsewhere, protesters continued to block parts of Canada’s capital, Ottawa, for the third consecutive weekend and staged disruptive blockades at other border crossings. Counterprotests in recent days also have grown.

In Ottawa, an impromptu attempt by residents on Sunday to block an intersection and prevent vehicles from joining the downtown convoy turned into a 200-strong protest by people who said they were fed up with feeling unsafe in their city. On Friday, the city of Ottawa, responding to frustrated residents, filed an injunction against demonstrators violating city bylaws.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said the federal government was considering invoking the never-before-used Emergencies Act of 1988, which gives the federal government broad powers subject to Parliament’s approval.

“The closing of our borders, the targeting of critical infrastructure, particularly our points of entry by the people behind these protests, is a significant national security threat to this country, and we have to do what is necessary to end it,” Blair told Canada’s CTV.

In Windsor, police began moving to disperse crowds near the bridge, closed since Monday, around 7 a.m. local time Sunday. After law enforcement enforced a Friday injunction ordering truckers and their supporters to leave and ticketed and towed vehicles, a defiant core of about two dozen protesters had remained on foot as temperatures dropped below freezing.

Windsor police said Saturday that a 27-year-old man was arrested “for a criminal offence in relation to the demonstration” at an intersection near the U.S.-Canada border.

Disruptions have also plagued other vital cross-border arteries — including the one from Coutts, Alberta, which connects to Montana, and the one from Surrey in British Columbia to Washington state.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stressed that “all options are on the table” to resolve the crisis and that “border crossings cannot, and will not, remain closed,” his office said in a statement. He has previously dismissed calls to deploy the military to disperse the protest in Ottawa.

Canada and the United States have denounced the border disruptions as harmful to trade, industry and local communities. Goods worth about $360 million — a quarter of the value of all goods traded between the two countries — are transported every day on Ambassador Bridge. Car manufacturers, including Toyota and Ford, have reduced some nearby operations in recent days citing disruptions to the delivery of necessary manufacturing parts.

In Ottawa, police grappled with protesters for a third weekend in a row despite both local and provincial officials declaring states of emergency. Freedom Convoy protesters remained at the site despite being threatened with fines, prison time and the loss of their licenses. Police have not made any large effort to disrupt the convoy in Ottawa similar to what they did Sunday in Windsor.

Ottawa police said Saturday that more than 4,000 demonstrators were in the city throughout the day.

“Safety concerns — arising from aggressive, illegal behaviour by many demonstrators — limited police enforcement capabilities,” police said in a statement.

The Freedom Convoy in Canada — which began in opposition to vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers and has snowballed into a protest of public health measures and the government — continued to inspire protests around the world over the weekend.

Across the Atlantic, French protesters temporarily blocked the Champs-Élysées, a central artery in Paris, on Saturday, despite an order banning them from entering the capital. Local outlets reported that police made at least 97 arrests.

Farther afield in New Zealand’s capital, people inspired by the Canadian protesters blocked an area outside Parliament in Wellington for the sixth day on Sunday — as officials attempted to use sprinklers and songs like “Baby Shark” to diffuse the protest, to no avail.

In Canada, as Trudeau and police come under pressure to do more to rein in the raucous protests, some local officials have acknowledged the risks posed by mass arrests or tougher action. Dilkens, Windsor’s mayor, warned that arrests could lead to violence,saying during a news briefing last week that some protesters believe “they are fighting for a cause that is worth dying for.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Surrey, British Columbia, southeast of Vancouver, said Saturday night that there was still “significant traffic congestion” on the main road leading to the Pacific Highway border crossing into Blaine, Wash. The crowd was “beginning to dissipate,” but there were “still a number of individuals on foot,” police said. An incident involving “a few vehicles” crossing police barricades and driving the wrong way down a street was under investigation, police said, noting that there were no injuries.

In Nova Scotia, protesters on Saturday blocked the Marine Atlantic terminal in North Sydney — the launch point for important ferry routes to Canada’s easternmost provinces. Demonstrations also have targeted border crossings in Manitoba and Alberta, as well as Sarnia in Ontario.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the blockade a “siege” and declared a provincial state of emergency on Friday, warning protesters of “severe” consequences, including fines up to $78,500 and prison terms.

In Ottawa, in continued defiance of the state of emergency, loud dance parties went on throughout the blockaded streets. As police on foot and in cars stood watch, convoys of trucks blared their horns, flouting anti-noise ordinances and a court order, and fireworks were illegally set off in crowds. Some people openly drank cans and bottles of alcohol, another violation of Ottawa law.

Hundreds of people joined a counterprotest Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, marching and chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, this trucker convoy has got to go!”

Meanwhile in Edmonton, capital of Alberta province, police issued 10 tickets and said they would issue 60 more by mail as demonstrators in trucks and on foot made their way to a federal building in the city’s downtown.

Counterprotesters briefly blocked a convoy on a road leading to the Alberta legislature, local media reported.

— Amanda Coletta in Ottawa, and Meryl Kornfield and Claire Parker in Washington, contributed to this report.

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