Canada bridge protesters defy orders

OTTAWA－Canadian demonstrators led by truckers angry over COVID-19 restrictions defied police and kept occupying a key bridge on Saturday, while thousands more rallied in the capital as a protest showed no signs of abating.

The demonstrations have inspired copycat protests that are now spreading around the globe, including to France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia.

In Ontario, where authorities have declared a state of emergency, the provincial supreme court had ordered truckers to end their blockade of the strategic Ambassador Bridge, which links the city of Windsor in Canada to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States.

The protest has forced major automakers in both countries to halt or scale back production, and Washington on Friday urged Ottawa to use its federal powers to end the blockade.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised an increasingly robust police intervention, adding that borders cannot remain closed, and this conflict "must end".

Canadian police, backed by armored vehicles, began clearing the bridge, taking down tents erected in traffic lanes, and persuading some drivers to move their trucks.

Windsor Police tweeted on Saturday morning that they had begun enforcement actions against protesters.

But by Saturday evening, after hours of facing off against the demonstrators, the police had not completely cleared the span.

Most of the cars and trucks blocking it were removed but hundreds of people refused to budge.

Windsor Police spokesman Jason Bellaire said the aim was to clear the bridge peacefully, but he could not say if it would be done by the end of the day. Police arrested a 27-year-old man for a criminal offense.

The Ambassador Bridge is vital to the US and Canadian auto industries, carrying more than 25 percent of merchandise exported by both countries.

Two other US-Canada border crossings, one in Manitoba Province and the other in Alberta, remain blocked by protests.

Call resonates

The truckers' message has resonated more widely than authorities expected.

One opinion survey found that a third of Canadians support the protest movement, while 44 percent say at least they understand the truckers' frustrations.

In Paris, at least 500 vehicles in several convoys attempted to enter the city at key arteries but were intercepted by police.

More than 200 motorists were ticketed, and elsewhere at least two people were detained amid a seizure of knives, hammers, and other objects in a central square.

Police fired tear gas against a handful of people who demonstrated on Champs Elysees avenue in defiance of a police order.

An Associated Press photographer was hit in the head with a gas canister as police struggled to control the crowd.

In the Netherlands, dozens of trucks and other vehicles ranging from tractors to a car towing a camper arrived in The Hague, blocking an entrance to the parliamentary complex. Protesters on foot joined them.

Last week in New Zealand, protesters rolled up to the grounds of the Parliament in Wellington in a convoy of cars and trucks and set up camp. Police have taken a hands-off approach after initial attempts to remove them.

In Switzerland, hundreds of protesters marched in Zurich to protest COVID-19 restrictions, while several thousand others rallied against them, Swiss media reported.

The rallies were illegal, and police used tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

In Australia, around 10,000 protesters marched through the capital Canberra to the Parliament building to decry vaccine mandates.

Agencies - Xinhua