Police arrest protesters who remained at bridge

WINDSOR, Ontario — Police moved in to clear and arrest the remaining protesters near the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing on Sunday, ending a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions that has hurt the economy of both nations even as they held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.

Local and national police formed a joint command center in Ottawa, where protests have paralyzed downtown, infuriated residents who are fed up with police inaction and turned up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The protests have reverberated across the country and beyond, with similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned truck convoys may be in the works in the United States.

Windsor police said about 12 people were peacefully arrested and seven vehicles were towed just after dawn near the Ambassador Bridge that links their city — and numerous Canadian automotive plants — with Detroit.

“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” said Windsor’s Mayor Drew Kiklen, who expressed hope the bridge would reopen Sunday. “Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination.

Only a few protesters had remained after police on Saturday persuaded demonstrators to move the pickup trucks and cars they had used to block a crossing that sees 25% of all trade between the two countries.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday acknowledged the seemingly peaceful resolution to the demonstration, which it said had “widespread damaging impacts” on the “lives and livelihoods of people” on both sides of the border.

“We stand ready to support our Canadian partners wherever useful in order to ensure the restoration of the normal free flow of commerce can resume,” Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall said in a statement.

In Ottawa, the ranks of protesters swelled to what police said were 4,000 demonstrators by Saturday, and a counter-protest of frustrated Ottawa residents attempting to block the convoy of trucks from entering the downtown emerged Sunday.

Clayton Goodwin, a 45-yearold military veteran who was among the counter-protesters, said it was time for residents to stand up against the protestors.

“I’m horrified that other veterans would be down there co-opting my flag, co-opting my service,” said Goodwin, who is the CEO of the Veterans Accountability Commission, a nonprofit advocacy group. “It’s a grift. The city was free. We’re 92% vaccinated. We’re ready to support our businesses.”

The city has seen similar expansions of the protest on past weekends, and loud music played as people milled about downtown where anti-vaccine demonstrators have been encamped since late January.

“The whole city is furious at being abandoned by the people who are supposed to protect us. They have completely abandoned the rule of law. ⁦⁦OttawaPolice⁦⁦ have lost credibility. #Ottawa Police Failed ,” tweeted Artur Wilczynski, a senior government national security official at Canada’s Communications Security Establishment.

A former minister in Trudeau’s Cabinet also blasted her former federal colleagues as well as the province and city for not putting an end to the protests.

“Amazingly, this isn’t just Ottawa. It’s the nation’s capital,” Catherine McKenna tweeted. “But no one — not the city, the province or the federal government can seem to get their act together to end this illegal occupation. It’s appalling. … Just get your act together. Now.”