Newsman: On Saturday, demonstrators also shut down smaller border crossings in Surrey, British Columbia; Emerson, Manitoba; and Coutts, Alberta, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Similar demonstrations have popped up in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that truck convoys may be in the works in the United States.
Kristi Johnson, the FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, said the agency doesn’t expect any of the planned protests circulating on social media to be disruptive to the Super Bowl or any surrounding activities.
New York Gov. Kathy Hocul visited an interagency command center in Buffalo to asses the situation, according to her office
“We are ready to address any potential travel and commerce disruptions, and also ensure we can protect everyone’s right to peaceful protest,” she said in a statement.
Canadian border officials said late Saturday that only the crossings at Windsor and Coutts remained closed.
Officials in Michigan continued to warn motorists to avoid the bridge into Windsor. Police in the Canadian city urged commuters to avoid areas affected by the protests.
Traffic across the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the United States had not resumed by early Sunday as some protesters doubled down on their defiance and new crowds gathered, further delaying the process of clearing the blockade.
The closure of the bridge, which carries more than one-fourth of the trade between the U.S. and Canada, has impacted an estimated $392.56 million a day in cross-border transactions. The protest is now in its third weekend in Ottawa. Hundreds of protesters were using their trucks to block city streets, blare their horns and disrupt traffic, leading the mayor of Canada’s capital declared a city state of emergency on Feb. 6.
Enforcement in Windsor, Ontario, throughout the day included moving demonstrators away from the bridge, installing k-rail barricades nearby that would prevent the strategic placement of vehicles, and ticketing vehicles for parking violations.
But A tense standoff appeared to be dissolving peacefully before noon and some truckers moved vehicles used in the blockade, but by nightfall the crowd swelled, NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit reported.
The standoff came at a time when the industry is already struggling to maintain production in the face of pandemic-induced shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions.
Late Saturday the Ottawa Police Service said in a statement that federal and state authorities would join them in their attempt to unlock the grip truckers and supporters have had on the city. Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Ontario Provincial Police will be part of “an enhanced, Integrated Command Centre” dedicated to the demonstrations, the service said.
The Windsor demonstration is one of multiple spinoffs tied to truckers’ “Freedom Convoy,” which started out against vaccination mandates for truckers crossing the U.S.-Canada border and has evolved into opposition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and pandemic restrictions.
Hundreds more protesters arrived to bolster crowed in Windsor on Saturday and settled into aface-off with police about two blocks away, waving flags and yelling. While there were no visible physical confrontations, the crowd still controlled the road to the bridge late Saturday.
The protest continued despite a judge’s order Friday for the protesters to leave and an announcement from Windsor police that they had “commenced enforcement” against blockading demonstrators on the bridge linking Windsor and Detroit.
The provincial and mounted police were also assisting in Windsor, Trudeau’s office said Saturday night.
“These blockades must be brought to an end, and the federal government will continue working on every option to end them,” his office said in a statement.
Less than a mile from the bridge Saturday night a 27-year-old man was arrested “for a criminal offence in relation to the demonstration,” Windsor police said.
Police had warned that anyone blocking streets or helping to block streets could be arrested after Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court ordered them to leave on Friday.
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“Overnight, demonstrators exhibited aggressive behaviour towards law enforcement including refusing to follow directions, overwhelming officers, and otherwise subverting enforcement efforts. All available officers were deployed last night,” Ottawa Police Service said. “We continue to monitor events across the province and adjust plans locally.”
Several hundred protesters planted themselves about 100 feet from the foot of the entry to the Ambassador Bridge over the U.S.-Canadian border on Saturday, even as all of the trucks left the scene throughout the day in the face of a police crackdown.
Canadian police had blocked off the area surrounding the bridge Saturday morning and surrounded a group of about 100 protesters at the foot of the bridge.
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