(Windsor) Tension is mounting between the protesters and numerous police officers who have been trying since Saturday morning to dislodge them from the road near the Ambassador Bridge, a major border axis between Canada and the United States.
Posted at 9:15 a.m.
Updated at 1:51 p.m.
By mid-morning, the police completely cleared the main intersection near the bridge, pushing the protesters back and away from the Canada-US border. Trucks sounded the national anthem as officers warned drivers that their vehicles would be towed if they did not clear the way.
A row of protesters still faces the police who continue to advance slowly towards them on Huron Church Street. Earlier, reinforcements arrived and surrounded the crowd. Armored vehicles stood behind the officers.
“We know you don’t want to do this,” a man shouts at the officers, pacing back and forth in front of the line formed by the police force. Another demonstrator, being in the front row, holds a megaphone and chants “Freedom” to the crowd.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Shane, who did not want to give his last name to The Press, is present with his two boys. They wave a Canadian flag. The father says he does not fear for the safety of his children during the demonstration. “They need to see what’s going on,” he says.
Around noon, many demonstrators from the city converged on the bridge. Among them, Randa Speller decided to join to show her support for the truckers. “I love Canada and I want to see it free,” she argues.
In the morning, several trucks left the scene, surrounded by demonstrators who marched alongside them, waving Canadian flags.
One of the leading trucks was the first to clear the way, sounding its horn. Around him, protesters raised their fists in the air.
PHOTO CARLOS OSORIO, REUTERS
Around 9:30 a.m., several people were still occupying the intersection near the bridge. Todd Morneau, a protester, said he didn’t know if he would move. “I will do what truckers do,” he said.
One of the main supply tents was dismantled on Saturday morning. But some demonstrators refused to leave. “We’re not armed, but we’re not going to move,” said Windsor resident Fernando Goritz.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Protesters demonstrators load their equipment into a truck before the police intervene.
Two kilometers from the bridge, on Huron Church Street, another demonstration continues to the sound of horns, at the corner of a commercial artery. However, cars can drive on one of the lanes.
“We urge all protesters to act lawfully and peacefully,” police in Windsor, where the bridge is located, tweeted on Saturday morning, announcing that they had begun their intervention. She asks residents to avoid the area.
Dozens of officers and vehicles arrived on the scene after 8 a.m. and took up position against the fifty or so demonstrators installed in their trucks and vans to paralyze the bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario to the American city of Detroit.
The Superior Court of Ontario on Friday ordered the departure of these demonstrators installed since Monday on this major border axis between the two American neighbors, a blockage which prompted Washington to intervene with the Trudeau government.
But the injunction had not shaken the demonstrators, who said they were determined to go through with their action.
The shutdown has caused disruption for the auto industry on both sides of the border.
The protest against health measures that has shaken Canada for two weeks started with the movement of Canadian truckers against the vaccination obligation to cross the border with the United States. The demonstrators, who block the federal capital Ottawa and several important border axes with the United States, are now demanding the lifting of all health restrictions.
With Agence France-Presse