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The Ambassador Bridge, one of the main thoroughfares between Canada and the United States reopened on Sunday evening after Canadian police evicted protesters and evacuated vehicles that had been blocking it for several days. The capital Ottawa remains paralyzed by protesters.
The Ambassador Bridge, a strategic axis between the United States and Canada, reopened on Sunday, February 13, after seven days of blockage, a long-awaited outcome by Washington. But anti-sanitary measures protesters continued their occupation of the capital Ottawa on Monday.
“The Ambassador Bridge is now fully open, once again allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canadian and American economies,” the bridge’s operating company said Sunday evening.
A few minutes later Canadian border services confirmed in a Tweet: “Normal border operations have resumed at the Ambassador Bridge. Non-essential travel is discouraged”.
It took Canadian police two days to evacuate this bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario to the American city of Detroit, blocked since last Monday by anti-sanitary measures protesters.
Police said between 25 and 30 protesters had been arrested.
>> To (re) see: “Antivax ‘freedom convoys’ in Ottawa or Paris: fractured democracies?”
At the end of the afternoon, when the demonstrators had been evacuated and only checks remained to be carried out before the reopening, an adviser to President Joe Biden expressed Washington’s appreciation “for the determined efforts made by the forces order (Canadian) along the border to bring about the complete lifting of the blockades”.
The United States had put pressure on the Canadian government by asking it a few days ago to use “federal powers” to end a blockage with “serious consequences” on the American economy.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens was pleased that the “national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge (has) ended today”, referring to the heavy financial cost of the blockade.
The closure of the bridge has indeed caused disruption to the automotive industry on both sides of the border.
More than 25% of goods exported between the United States and Canada pass through this bridge. More than 40,000 people use it every day, including Canadian nurses who work in Detroit hospitals.
Third week
The Canadian protest movement, which is entering its third week, started with truckers protesting against the obligation to be vaccinated to cross the border between Canada and the United States. But the demands have extended to a refusal of all health measures and, for many demonstrators, to a rejection of the government of Justin Trudeau.
The latter indicated in a tweet Sunday evening that his government “continues to act with urgency – to protect jobs, public safety, our neighborhoods and our economy”.
Parades took place over the weekend in several Canadian cities, including Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal on Saturday, and other border crossings remain blocked in the provinces of Manitoba and Alberta.
If the situation in Ottawa was calmer on Sunday, the movement did not weaken in the Canadian capital paralyzed by the demonstrators since the end of January.
Many protesters were still in central Ottawa on Sunday. “We are struggling with measures for a disease that is not that terrible,” laments Charles Beliveau to AFP. He intended to leave Ottawa on Sunday evening but intends to return.
Reflecting the growing exasperation of residents with the occupation of the city center, the weekend was also marked by counter-demonstrations. Some thus endeavored to stop a convoy of protesters on Sunday. In Canada, 90% of the population is vaccinated.
A glimmer of hope has appeared for residents, however: Ottawa City Hall has reported a possible agreement with Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the protests to clear trucks from the most residential areas.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has been highly critical of Ottawa police, calling it “unexplainable” in a CBC interview that the city’s police are unable to restore order. “The police must do their job” and “enforce the law in this city”, he insisted.
With AFP
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