Police prepare to face truckers on Ontario bridge.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

Canadian police moved in Saturday morning to clear protesters at a vital bridge in Windsor Ontario connecting Canada and the United States. As the authorities began what appeared to be an operation to clear the crossing, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Paris, the police fired tear gas at demonstrators blocking traffic on the Champs-lyses at a copycat protest. The Windsor Police wrote on Twitter Saturday morning that "The Windsor Police & its policing partners have commenced enforcement at and near the Ambassador Bridge." It added: "We urge all demonstrators to act lawfully & peacefully."

Police officers were standing in a line not far from the protesters on Saturday morning. Protesters were seen dismantling the tent where they keep food and supplies. Some of the protesters blared their horns. Automakers have been particularly affected by the partial shutdown of the Ambassador Bridge, which normally carries $300 million worth of goods a day, about a third of which are related to the auto industry. The blockades have left carmakers short of crucial parts, forcing companies to shut down some plants from Ontario to Alabama on Friday. The court order calling for protesters to disband or face stiff fines or prison went into effect on Friday at 7 p.m, and the numbers of protesters had since thinned.

But on Saturday morning, dozens of protesters, some dressed in fluorescent construction garb, had still refused to leave, and were milling around at an intersection before the bridge, drinking coffee and holding up Canadian flags. Other protesters remained in their pickup trucks, their engines idling, to stay warm. As Canada enters the third weekend of a crisis that has brought thousands of protesters into the streets of its capital and disrupted international supply chains, officials are turning to harsher measures to try to restore order.

The prime minister and the premier of Ontario both warned on Friday that the demonstrators would face up to 100,000 dollars in fines and a year in prison if they did not disperse voluntarily. In addition to taking over blocks of downtown Ottawa, protesters -- many of them truck drivers angry about vaccination requirements to enter Canada from the United States -- have blockaded several border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit and carries a third of U.S.-Canada trade.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/12/world/canada-protest-trudeau/police-begin-standoff-with-truckers-on-ontario-bridge

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Some updates -

Police move in on Ambassador Bridge blockade after injunction deadline passes


Mark Gollom · CBC News · Posted: Feb 12, 2022 4:25 AM ET | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago


Police have moved in to break up a days-long protest at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., where vehicles have been blocking traffic on the crucial border crossing into the U.S.

"We urge all demonstrators to act lawfully and peacefully," Windsor police said in a tweet as officers started to move in with other law enforcement at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

They also advised people to stay away from the area.

While some protesters left immediately, a handful remained as of 10 a.m. Police formed a line and were steadily pushing back the demonstrators, some of whom were shouting "shame," "freedom" and "you're on the wrong side."

(snip)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/protesters-ambassador-bridge-windsor-covid-deadline-1.6349424

(tweets have videos) -

Link to tweet

Thomas Daigle
@thomasdaigle
Despite the police surrounding them and slowly moving closer, a few dozen Windsor protesters are still just standing around, vowing to “hold the line”
8:54 AM · Feb 12, 2022

Link to tweet

Katerina Georgieva
@KatGeorgieva
8:17 AM · Feb 12, 2022

Earlier -

Link to tweet

[div class"excerpt"]Windsor Police
@WindsorPolice
The Windsor Police & its policing partners have commenced enforcement at and near the Ambassador Bridge. We urge all demonstrators to act lawfully & peacefully. Commuters are still being asked to avoid the areas affected by the demonstrations at this time.
8:18 AM · Feb 12, 2022

[The Grand Illuminist]

1. Very dangerous work ahead.

Trust no trucker.

[gab13by13]

2. It's not a trucker protest.

It's an anti-democracy protest funded by American oligarchs.

[2naSalit]

12. All dressed up to look like a trucker protest.

There arent that many actual trucks involved. It's just that the media focus on them so that's all you see. Part of that is because the trucks are commercial vehicles where the others are private and some avoid showing those though they should since they are out there to be seen.

[yaesu]

19. We need to start calling this the pretend truckers protest. nt

[BlueIdaho]

21. Yes, but...

Not just American Oligarchs… there is laundered dark money from Russia and China as well. Their goal is to destroy democracy globally.

[pandr32]

35. Exactly

It's not about vaccines, but to usher in unregulated capitalism which would completely ruin our Western society.

[gab13by13]

3. What message does it send with no arrests?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. ????

They just got court approval yesterday and are starting their enforcement now ...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Who says there will be no arrests? Your ESP is not reliable. . . . nt

[SheltieLover]

6. They put up with this for 3 weeks?

Boggles the mind.

I hope Canadian judges do a much better job of handing out harsh penalties than have our US jydges.

Thx for posting!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Days not weeks. Windsor is not Ottawa. As far apart as Los Angeles and San Francisco. . . . nt

[BumRushDaShow]

26. Seems most of them have "fled"

leaving a few "hard core" dumbasses who want 15 minutes of fame.

[SheltieLover]

29. Ya I'll bet they fled

And consumers are again left holding the bag for corporate losses & lawyers, police, etc.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. That's what the astroturf "protests" are designed to do.

[SheltieLover]

32. Yup

Should not be tolerated imo.

[The Jungle 1]

7. They are terrorists

These fascists have been displaying nazi flags and treasonous confederate flags. Their goal is insurrection.
They are terrorists and we do not allow known terrorist into the USA.
Get their identification and ban them from crossing the border.
Maybe we need a wall . Clearly Canada is not sending their best,

[Farther]

24. Just so

And yet, while I watched a livestream from the bridge last night, someone was blasting "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" of all things. Apparently their revolution will be filled with a grotesque irony.

[BigmanPigman]

8. I'm watching CNN and most of the truckers have left.

Only a few are left and no arrests have been made so far. Too bad this wasn't able to happen earlier.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Premier Ford was hiding for two weeks. Polls show he loses election ground when he opens his mouth

Although Windsor is not Ottawa, Ford has only mouthed platitudes about the Ottawa occupation. Both are in his province and he has greatest jurisdiction over roadways.

[George II]

13. Tempted to say "it's about time", but laws in Canada are different than those in the US...

I've seen a lot of posts saying they should call up the National Guard to break up the protests. Truth is, Canada does NOT have a National Guard, and Michigan can't just send their National Guard over to Windsor to break them up - that would be an invasion.

Anyway, thankfully they've exercised all legal remedies and are now moving in. I hope many of them are jailed and their trucks seized or their licenses suspended / cancelled.

Sad thing is poor Trudeau is being bashed by the far right and far left for doing nothing, even though there has been little he can do.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. I just added an update to the OP

Apparently many of them have left or are leaving but you have the handful at various locations who are tempting fate.

[George II]

15. Yes, I saw that on the news. But rest assured the police/authorities have documented every single...

....truck that has been involved.

They can run but they can't hide. I really hope they follow up on these lawbreakers.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I think many of the "trucks" were personal pickups too

and they were most likely not "truckers" but RW loons.

[George II]

17. What I've found hysterical (or suspicious) was all the "Don't Tread On Me" flags....

Isn't that an American thing? But, thankfully, I didn't see any confederate flags like we do down here.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. See that makes you wonder how many Michiganders

ran across the border (through the tunnel) to "join in".

[pandr32]

36. You are right about that

The stragglers who got sucked in to the cause and feel like patriots.
By the way, your "R W loons" remark is so appropriate for a Canadian right-winger. Loons are the chosen symbols on one and two-dollar coins. People call the $1 coins 'loonies' and the $2 ones 'two-nies'!

[paleotn]

23. Good. Examples to make.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. I wouldn't be surprised if some were astroturf American citizens

(e.g., Michigan "militia" loons) who crossed the border to roll their fake outrage stuff out...

[paleotn]

27. Word is, much of their leadership and funding is American.

Couldn't do this to this extent and for this long in the US. They would have been arrested a week ago.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Yes. Occupiers want Trudeau to invoke Emergencies Act so they can fundraise on it for decades

So of course the CONservatives are calling him weak in an attempt to provoke him into using it so that they can then condemn it. Notice that they don't mention it by name, so that they can say "We wanted action, but not THAT!"

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

20. The first rule of trucking should be: Don't play chicken when facing a bigger truck.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Apparently the pickups have been "the protest trucks"

and when the police arrived, most of them left.

I expect the media shots of the many "big rigs" in the area, insinuating they were participating in the protests, were actually legit truckers trying to haul and not actually part of any "protest", and were stuck in the traffic snafu.

I have seen the Ambassador bridge from Detroit (at the entry port) and the line of trucks on it is never-ending to say the least, in normal times. But all the border crossings are like that with the trucks - whether it's the Peace Bridge in Niagara Falls, NY or the Peace Arch in Blaine, WA.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

33. Any idea why there's nothing much heard from the Bluewater Bridge? n/t

[orangecrush]

31. I love watching

Putin's stooges get their asses whupped!

[cadoman]

37. these Russian patsies are about to get Tiananmen'd

And I'm gonna be laughing every second.



Sorry folks, your freedumbs don't entitle you to block roads or prevent normal order of business. And you certainly don't just get to occupy a city on a whim.

You also can't petition to address grievances when everything the government is doing is to protect you. Maybe you should try thanking your government and supporting her, for a change?

And as always, shout out to Justin Trudeau. He has done so much to address the systemic racism and hate in his country and apparently there is just a lot more work to do than anyone ever imagined.

[orangecrush]

39. ...

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. I'm not sure I can endorse this new legal maneuver, because it's very heavy-handed.

OTOH, this logjam of militant idiots has to end. The Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford - the brother of the late Toronto mayor who, among other things, admitted to smoking crack - has brought in legislation that is aimed squarely at the truckers.

At the extreme end of the penalty scale, refusing to unjam the Ambassador Bridge and the city of Ottawa can result in a $100,000 fine, a year in jail and loss of the offender's commercial driver's license. I'm not sure how that last item will be enforced, because many, if not most, of the truckers are from other provinces.

[cadoman]

38. for this to work, Canada needs to pursue policies to replace the drivers

Fact: we are short on drivers.

Fact: As long as we are short on drivers, the truckers have leverage and render policy to arrest them ineffective.

Thus, by order of operations, the first thing that must be done is to increase number of available drivers. I propose that by executive order, Ford should allow regular license holders and military service members to drive trucks, and facilitate that through one week of rapid training. If there are not enough people to fill in, the immigration backlog should be examined for anyone with valid drivers licenses and they should be brought over immediately.

Imagine all these dumb rednecks being replaced with democracy loving immigrants in the span of a few weeks? We could turn this into a mass, indefinite detention of the most deplorable elements of society if we play our cards right. But until the replacement drivers are in place, nothing like that can happen.

Replacement drivers are critical.