Blockades on Canada-US border continue as protests swell

Protesters opposed to COVID vaccine mandates and other restrictions withdrew their vehicles from a key US-Canadian border bridge Saturday though access remained blocked while other demonstrations ramped up in cities across Canada, including the capital, where police said they were awaiting more officers before ending what they described as an illegal occupation.The tense standoff at the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, eased somewhat early in the day when Canadian police persuaded demonstrators to move the trucks they had used to barricade the entrance to the busy international crossing.  But protesters reconvened nearby with reinforcements and were still choking off access from the Canadian side late Saturday, snarling traffic and commerce for a sixth day. About 180 remained late Saturday in the sub-freezing cold. In Ottawa, the ranks of protesters swelled to what police said was 4,000 demonstrators. The city has seen that on past weekends, and loud music played as people milled about downtown where anti-vaccine demonstrators have been encamped since late January.

Prime Minister Justine Trudeau  stressed that border crossings cannot, and will not, remain closed, and that all options are on the table, Trudeau's office said in a statement late Saturday after he met with senior officials. Trudeau has called the protesters a fringe of Canadian society, and both federal and provincial leaders say they can't order police what to do. Safety concerns arising from aggressive, illegal behaviour by many demonstrators limited police enforcement capabilities, Ottawa police said in a statement late Saturday.

An ex-Cabinet minister in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government took the unusual step of calling out 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.”