Key bridge reopens after police clear protesters

WINDSOR, Ontario－The busiest US-Canada border crossing reopened late on Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week, though Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.

Detroit International Bridge, the company that operates the cross-border bridge, said in a statement: "The Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again."

Company spokeswoman Esther Jentzen said in a later text to The Associated Press that the bridge reopened to traffic at 11 pm.

The crossing normally carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business in both countries, with automakers forced to shut down several assembly plants.

Police in Windsor, Ontario, said earlier in the day that more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators from near the bridge, which links the city－and numerous Canadian automotive plants－with Detroit.

The protest in Ottawa, meanwhile, has paralyzed the capital's downtown area, infuriated residents who are fed up with police inaction, and turned up the pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who presided at a Cabinet meeting late on Sunday.

Three members of the Canadian Special Operations Forces are under investigation for allegedly supporting the protests in Ottawa, the Department of National Defence said on Sunday.

The Ambassador Bridge had remained closed for most of the day despite the breakup of the protest as a heavy snowstorm blanketed the area. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens had said the span would open once authorities determined it was safe to do so.

The administration of US President Joe Biden on Sunday acknowledged the seemingly peaceful resolution to the demonstration, which it said had "widespread damaging impacts" on the "lives and livelihoods of people" on both sides of the border.

On the other side of the country, a major truck border crossing between Surrey, British Columbia, and Blaine, Washington, was closed on Sunday, a day after Canadian authorities said a few vehicles had breached police barricades and a crowd entered the area by foot.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Sunday afternoon four people had been arrested for "mischief" during the protest. Some people who stayed overnight had packed up and left, but the border crossing and roads in the area remained closed.

A border blockade that began in Coutts, Alberta, north of Sweet Grass, Montana, on Jan 29 remained in place as well.

The demonstrations have reverberated across Canada and beyond, with similar convoys in France, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

In France, around 300 vehicles taking part in copycat protests arrived in the northern city of Lille on Sunday en route to Brussels, where officials have already banned a demonstration called for Monday.

The flag-bearing trek north came after 97 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday, with 81 still in custody early on Sunday.

Agencies via Xinhua