Ontario, Paris - Canadian police, on Saturday, moved in to remove protesters who interrupted Canada-US trade at a major bridge border crossing, 12 hours after a court order to end the blockade took effect.
The Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest land border crossing, had no traffic flowing for the fifth straight day on Saturday morning. About 15 trucks, cars and pick-up vans blocked traffic in both directions, choking the supply chain for Detroit's carmakers.
"We urge all demonstrators to act lawfully & peacefully," Windsor Police said in a tweet, asking commuters to avoid the areas affected by the demonstrations.
Police in black uniforms with yellow vests were seen moving behind the protesters cars on the bridge. Protesters have thinned from about 200 blocking the bridge on Friday night.
Canada has been rocked by protests against the government's strict pandemic measures, including vaccine mandates, which have entered a third week.
The "Freedom Convoy" protests, started in the national capital Ottawa by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, entered its 16th day on Saturday.
Protests have spread to three border points, including the Ambassador Bridge, strangling trade between the two countries.
Paris fines convoy protesters
French police intercepted hundreds of vehicles and issued almost 300 fines as self-declared "freedom convoys" attempted to enter Paris to protest COVID-19 restrictions Saturday.
Convoys are trying to enter the French capital from different directions to protest the vaccine pass, which the French government requires people to have in order to access many public spaces. Some protestors also decry rising energy prices.
Despite a ban on such protests in Paris, hundreds of vehicles — mostly cars, vans and mobile-homes — gathered on Paris' ring road Saturday after spending the night on the outskirts of the capital, according to an AFP report.
Paris police have readied nearly 7,200 officers to prevent protesters from entering the city in the coming days.
Police said Saturday morning they were intercepting vehicles at multiple entry points to the capital, including a 450-vehicle convoy near Porte de Saint-Cloud. By midday, police said they had issued at least 283 fines.
Protesters have taken inspiration from Canada's "freedom convoy" demonstrations which launched last month, initially to protest a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing into the country.
-AP/AFP