The White House urges the Canadian authorities to reopen the Ambassador Bridge, blocked since Monday evening by demonstrators. A request for an injunction made Thursday by the city of Windsor to force the withdrawal of the demonstrators has not yet succeeded in ending the immobilization.
The city of Windsor could know Friday noon if the request for an injunction is accepted. The hearing before the Superior Court judge was organized quickly during the day Thursday, after the municipality made the request. According to Judge Geoffrey Morawetz, the short delay did not leave enough time for the defendants – various individuals identified through journalistic articles – to take cognizance of it. The latter, however, says he understands the economic urgency of the situation.
Several meetings have taken place between American departments, such as that of homeland security, and their Canadian equivalent, reports the CBC network. On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki highlighted the economic impact of the bridge closure on the auto industry. Several auto plants in Ontario and the United States, including those of Toyota, Ford and Honda, have suspended operations due to the protest. Cars built in Canada are often assembled using parts produced in the United States.
American pressure
Other US lawmakers, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, expressed dissatisfaction with the situation on Thursday. Municipal, provincial and federal governments “must take all necessary steps to immediately reopen the bridge safely,” the governor said in a statement. A call also takes place Thursday afternoon between the Michigan delegation to Congress and the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.
The handling of anti-sanitary measures protesters in Windsor surprises US-based homeland security experts. “I figured that if someone blocked a public road and disrupted civilian life and the economy, it would be illegal,” said Javed Ali, a University of Michigan professor and former analyst with the Department of Homeland Security.
“The point of view of security experts in the United States is ‘why were the Canadians so slow in imposing the laws?'” continues Javed Ali. Windsor police have so far only made one arrest in connection with the protests. The municipality asked the RCMP to send 100 officers to help its police force. In a media scrum on Thursday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the RCMP would send reinforcements to the border town.
Exported to USA
The Canadian protests have been making headlines for a week in the United States on major channels, a rare phenomenon, notes political science professor Antoine Yoshinaka, of the University of New York at Buffalo. “It’s the media as well as right-wing politicians who seem to approve,” he says. Hosts from the popular Fox News network, such as Tucker Carlson, are among them.
The movement has “considerable potential” to continue in the United States, said Thomas S. Warrick, a researcher at the Atlantic Council and a former senior officer in the Department of Homeland Security. That’s why the department is closely monitoring the possible presence of truckers near the Super Bowl site on Sunday, he said, as reported by US media.
But the researcher predicts that the US government will handle protesters differently than in Canada. Since truck-bombing incidents like the one in Oklahoma City in 1995, law enforcement in the United States “has embraced the idea that there needs to be a significant distance between trucks and important government buildings” , explains Thomas Warrick, referring to the ongoing occupation in Ottawa.
“If you transposed what happened in Ottawa to Washington DC, the answer would have been different,” suggests Javed Ali. Occupation in the US capital, he said, would be completely unacceptable. “It’s the heart of the government, I don’t think the government would have dragged its feet. Every day that you let pass without imposing the laws, you give the opportunity to the demonstrators to promote their cause, ”says Javed Ali.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.