After weeks of protest, key US-Canada bridge reopens as police clear demonstrators

After weeks of endless protests that shut down land movement between Canada and the United States, the Ambassador Bridge, touted to be the busiest border crossing between the two countries, has reopened after police finally cleared the anti-coronavirus protesters who had occupied the bridge.

Police reports on Sunday added that some protest leaders who were mainly Canadian truckers, have been arrested while some trucks used to block the bridge were towed away to clear the border for easy movement.

The bridge’s owner, Detroit International Bridge Co, said in a statement that “the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again.

“Police in Windsor on the Canadian side of the border, have arrested more than two dozen people who were involved in the protest while seven vehicles were towed away and five seized near the bridge that links the city – and numerous Canadian car plants – with the US city of Detroit,” the statement said.

For the past three week, protesters in trucks, cars and vans have blocked traffic in both directions at the crossing, choking off the flow of goods on a link that carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries.

Read also: Canada lifts travel ban on Nigeria, nine others

Police stepped up their presence in the area on Sunday deploying more than 50 vehicles, including cruisers, buses and an armoured car, while the number of protesters dropped to about 45 from roughly 100 the previous day.

The protests which was christened ‘Freedom Convoy Protests,’ began on January 22 in Ottawa, and were sparked by a mandate that requires Canadian cross-border truckers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The truckers were angry that they were made to undergo another round of vaccinations by the US after they had been vaccinated in Canada and decided to protest against the measure.

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