Police arrest last protesters at US-Canada border, traffic set to resume, Coutts crossing also open

RT
Sun, 13 Feb 2022 18:02 UTC

© Cole Burston/Getty Images

Protestors confront police as they try to clear protestors and their vehicles from from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Canada

Authorities are reopening the key crossing after clearing 'Freedom Convoy' protesters

Canadian authorities made a push to remove the last protesters from the Ambassador Bridge and surrounding areas on Sunday after having to close the border crossing in Windsor, Ontario with barricades last week.

Police began arresting non-compliant demonstrators and towing vehicles supporting the anti-Covid-mandate trucker protest in Canada on Saturday. They pushed protesters away from the bridge on Sunday before making arrests, of which there were a dozen, according to authorities.

Windsor police spokesperson Sergeant Steve Betteridge told reporters that approximately 12 people were arrested from the protests and claimed there were no violent incidents between demonstrators and police.

"I am very pleased to say of those 12 arrested there was no violence at all. No violence from the protester and the officers did not have to use, use of force," he said.

Approximately 10 vehicles in the area were also towed after refusing to move. The bridge is expected to reopen sometime on Sunday afternoon.

On Friday, the chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court granted an injunction ordering the protesters to leave the area that night after a blockade that had lasted for days.

Footage from the protests shows police forming lines and pushing back demonstrators, some of whom chanted "Shame on you." According to local media, crowds began thinning out on Sunday after arrests were made, with police far outnumbering the remaining protesters. Some footage shows a handful of police for each protester taken into custody.

Comment: Reuters reports:

Under the Emergencies Act, the government introduced measures intended to cut off protesters' funding and took steps to reinforce provincial and local law enforcement with federal police.

"The blockades are harming our economy and endangering public safety," Trudeau told a news conference. "We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue."

But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the government had not met the standard for invoking the Emergencies Act, which is intended to deal with threats to "sovereignty, security and territorial integrity," the group said.

The Canadian Parliament must approve the use of the emergency measures within seven days, and the left-leaning New Democrat party said it would support Trudeau's Liberal minority government to pass the measures.

Ontario, which declared a state of emergency on Friday, backed the move. But premiers in Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan opposed the plan. Quebec's Premier Francois Legault said using emergency powers risked putting "oil on the fire."

Trudeau said the measures would be geographically targeted and time limited.

Said no power-hungry dictator ever.

In the meantime, one of the secondary blockades at Coutts is apparently being voluntarily lifted:

In the most Canadian fashion possible: