WINDSOR, Ontario — The departure of vehicles blocking the Ambassador Bridge Saturday morning raised hopes that the crossing would finally open after five days.
By late afternoon, however, protesters on foot continue to linger near the bridge. In fact, their numbers grew to several hundred throughout the day.
At 4 p.m., eight hours after Canadian police began enforcing a judge’s injunction against the demonstration, the two sides seemed to reach a stalemate.
“We’re here for whatever it takes,” said Denise Carlson of Windsor. “We’re staying right here.”
Carlson was one of the new arrivals, just joining the protest in the afternoon. Among the people descending upon the city were families with children.
Members of the upbeat crowd echoed Carlson’s comments, saying they planned to remain in the street and were willing to risk arrest.
The demonstrators, once vastly outnumbered by the Canadian police on scene, may now have eclipsed them.
Dozens of police, forming a line, began steadily pushing the protesters away from the bridge and onto nearby streets in the morning.
They succeeded in clearing several lanes of traffic but the bridge remained closed. Windsor police said they didn't know when it might reopen.
Some protesters, walking backward, shouted at the police but others bantered cheerfully with them. No one has been arrested.
The demonstrators, some waving Canadian flags and others wearing them, said they accomplished their goal even as the protest seemed to be reaching its conclusion.
“They can’t ignore us anymore. They know what we can do,” said Marie Rice of Lakeshore, Ontario.
Rice said the Canadian government should drop its vaccine mandate immediately and never should have employed it in the first place.
“It doesn’t do a thing,” she said about vaccines. “Scientists say one thing today and another tomorrow.”
Jason Bellaire, the deputy chief of Windsor police, implored the protesters to go home.
He said they were successful in publicizing their grievances, but would be arrested if they remained longer.
“We’re doing it in the safest manner possible,” he said about the police effort. “We’re prioritizing human life and safety.”
Bellaire said the Windsor police are being assisted by five other police forces in Canada along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the country's national police force.
One group of officers wore military-style uniforms while an armored personnel carrier was parked in the neighborhood.
One of the newest protesters was Carlson of Windsor. When she learned that the rigs blocking the bridge had left, she got dressed and rushed to the scene in the afternoon.
She was angry that the vehicles departed and vowed to stay put even if she was arrested.
“It’s wrong. The police work for us, not the government,” she said about the line of officers facing the crowd. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Carlson, wearing a Canadian flag like a cape, said the mandatory vaccine was the latest in a string of actions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that she resented.
Police began dispersing the crowd as they enforced a Canadian judge's injunction on the bridge blockade.
At about 9:45 a.m., semitrailers began to move away from the area and several protesters also appeared to choose to leave as authorities began to march toward the crowd.
At about 10:55 a.m. the Windsor Police Department tweeted that people in the demonstration area were subject to arrest and advised them to leave immediately.
Earlier, at about 8:20 a.m., Windsor Police had announced that it and its policing partners had begun enforcement at and near the bridge and police began arriving at the scene.
"We urge all demonstrators to act lawfully & peacefully. Commuters are still being asked to avoid the areas affected by the demonstrations at this time," the police tweeted.
An Ontario judge granted an injunction Friday against protesters but crowds remained defiant after the injunction took effect at 7 p.m. Friday, hours after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated "everything is on the table" to dissolve the blockade and restart traffic across the vital North American shipping route.
The protesters are gathered in opposition to a vaccine requirement for truckers entering the country. The United States also has a vaccine requirement for freight truckers delivering goods across the border.
Ontario officials plan to fine protesters blocking the bridge up to $100,000 and sentence them to up to a year in jail, said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. They also will consider taking away the personal or commercial driver's licenses of anyone who defies the orders.
The orders will clarify that blocking the movement of "goods, people and services across critical infrastructure" is illegal, Ford said, including border crossings, airports, bridges, highways and railways.
"To those trying to force a political agenda through disruption, intimidation and chaos, my message to you is this: Your right to make a political statement does not outweigh the right of hundreds of thousands of workers to earn their living," he said.
Ford begged the protesters to leave and declared a state of emergency. He said an Ontario Court granted his administration's request to freeze funds flowing to the protesters and the police have provided additional resources to back up law enforcement in Ottawa and Windsor.
The Ambassador Bridge has been blocked to traffic since Monday evening, when a protest at the Capitol in Ottawa moved to other cities across the country and to the trade thoroughfare connecting Canada to Detroit.
Officials have continued to reroute commercial traffic to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, where they say nine commercial lanes are open, and to the Windsor tunnel for smaller passenger traffic.
The Ambassador Bridge exit on northbound Interstate 75, Exit 47B, remains closed to traffic Saturday.
The Ambassador Bridge is the conduit of 25% of all trade between the two countries and is of particular importance to the North American auto industry. Around 10,000 commercial vehicles cross the bridge every day with $325 million of goods, the Michigan Treasury Department estimated Friday. Around $50 million of that are auto parts. The blockade has caused major economic strain for automakers and other manufacturers already struggling with supply chain woes.
It's drawn the attention of both nation's highest officeholders. Trudeau and President Joe Biden spoke about the standoff Friday.
The prime minister promised quick action in enforcing the law and the president thanked him for the steps he and other Canadian authorities are taking to restore the open passage of bridges to the United States, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
"The Biden administration has continued its work overnight and engaged in productive conversations with our Canadian counterparts over the last 24 hours to bring the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge and other ports of entry to a swift and peaceful end," a White House official told The Detroit News Friday. "We feel confident that at the municipal, provincial and federal level, Canada appreciates the urgency required to take action."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also has called on Canadian authorities to resolve the dispute and offered heavy equipment, security and other resources to assist in ending the blockade.
"We have got to push to resolve this and it has to be swift," she said. "Of course, we want it to be safely done as well. But it has to happen. We cannot let another minute go by unnecessarily because this border is too important to our economy, to our homeland security, and as we grow our economy, it's a crucial moment.”
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