Canada border blockade clearing peacefully as police move in

A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries’ economies appears to be dissolving peacefully as Canadian police move in to disperse the nearly weeklong protest and demonstrators begin leaving without resistance

WINDSOR, Ontario -- A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries' economies appeared to be dissolving peacefully Saturday as Canadian police moved in to disperse the nearly weeklong blockade and demonstrators began leaving without resistance.

Many demonstrators drove away from the Ambassador Bridge spanning the river between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, as scores of police approached shortly after dawn. They had spent the night there in defiance of new warnings to end the blockade, which disrupted the flow of traffic and goods and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production.

Surrounded by dozens of officers, a man with “Mandate Freedom” and “Trump 2024” spray-painted on his vehicle left as other protesters began dismantling a small tarp-covered encampment. A truck driver honked his horn as he, too, drove off, to cheers and chants of “Freedom!”

This week’s demonstrations at the Ambassador Bridge, downtown Ottawa and elsewhere have targeted vaccine mandates and other coronavirus restrictions. There is also an outpouring of fury toward Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who has called them a “fringe” of Canadian society.