Police move to clear bridge blockade.
Source: New York Times
Canadian police in Windsor, Ontario, began making arrests on Sunday morning near the Ambassador Bridge, a vital border crossing to the United States and one of the most visible sites of an anti-government protest movement that has roiled Canada for weeks. Hundreds of uniformed police officers approached the protesters, some of whom had left their vehicles parked at intersections leading to the bridge. A phalanx of police officers warned the protesters they would be charged with criminal mischief, before closing in the small crowd and making arrests. A tow truck was used to removed a pair of parked pickup trucks blocking the approach to the bridge.
The bridge, which spans the Detroit River, is main avenue of commerce of moving goods between the United States and Canada. The nearly weeklong blockade has cost American automakers, in particular, millions of dollars. The arrests were the first major police action since truckers and other Canadians protesting vaccine mandates laid siege to the area around Canada’s Parliament three weeks ago, inspiring copycat demonstrations across the country and beyond, and blockades of critical trade routes at the U.S.-Canada border. But the police have done little to intervene where the movement began: Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
On Saturday, the protest there swelled in size and energy, turning the downtown streets into a giant, illegal party as vastly outnumbered police officers stood by and watched. In Ottawa on Saturday, thousands of protesters flooded the downtown streets, sometimes so thickly that it became almost impossible to move. Music played on various corners, and people danced in intersections. Vendors set up along the edges of the crowd, making quick sales of small Canada flags and T-shirts that rudely told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau where to go. Calls of “freedom” rang out repeatedly.
Though Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, had announced a state of emergency on Friday, including steep new penalties for protesters, few police officers could be seen at the Ottawa demonstration. Those who were present, dressed in neon-yellow vests, strolled in groups past protesters who were violating the law in numerous ways. Some carried gas cans, presumably to supply the truckers parked in the streets, though the Ottawa police had said they would crack down on anyone giving “material aid” to the demonstrators. And despite a court injunction obtained last week by a neighborhood resident, truck drivers on Saturday were blasting their horns without ceasing.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/13/world/canada-protests-trudeau-news/police-move-to-clear-bridge-blockade
= new reply since forum marked as read
The current head / Premier of Ontario (Doug Ford) is a conservative and older brother of the late loon Rob Ford, former mayor of Toronto. So who knows how they will handle this. 
(Ottawa is in Ontario)
I've been to Montreal (Quebec), Niagara Falls & Windsor (Ontario), and Vancouver (British Columbia), but yeah, the border crossings were no play. 
I expect that Alberta Province is probably worse though...
But then Quebec is not Ontario.
And the opposition parties including the Liberals disagree about whether "politics" is involved in the situation (including the delay in calling for a state of emergency, some 2 weeks after the protests began) -
Colin D'Mello
CTV News Toronto Queen's Park Bureau Chief & Video journalist
Katherine DeClerq
CTV News Toronto Multi-Platform Writer
Published Thursday, February 10, 2022 9:20AM EST
Last Updated Thursday, February 10, 2022 9:20AM EST
As Toronto prepares for another protest and convoy demonstrations in Ottawa reach the two-week mark, Ontario’s opposition parties insist they’re not playing politics as they speak out against the Premier Doug Ford’s perceived inaction. The leaders of both the Ontario NDP and Liberals have stepped up their attacks against the premier, accusing him of abandoning the nation's capital while presenting their own ideas on how to force embedded truck drivers to leave the encampment.
Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca – who said the premier has been “invisible” – recently visited Ottawa to speak with affected business owners and families impacted by the blaring horns and prolonged closures as they wait for Ottawa police to step in. He is also scheduled to visit Windsor on Thursday as protests once again force the Ambassador Bridge to close.
But both parties insist they are not playing politics when it comes to the truck convoy. “Absolutely not,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said when asked by CTV News Toronto whether her party was politicizing the issue. “What this is, is us trying to stand up for the people of Ottawa and put an end to this nightmare that they've been facing.”
(snip)
Policing amid such a large protest could be “tricky situation” for the premier, McDougall said. Earlier this week the Solicitor General was accused of inflating the number of OPP officers dispatched to Ottawa when she claimed 1,500 personnel were deployed – Ottawa police said the true number was closer to 100 officers per day. When asked about the premier’s notable absence during the protests, Deputy Premier Christine Elliott said Ford has been “working around the clock” on economic issues, but the occupation and bridge disruptions “is a matter of concern to him.”
(snip)
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-ndp-and-liberals-say-criticism-of-ford-amid-truck-convoy-protests-not-about-politics-1.5775839
When the George Floyd and BLM protests were going on here in cities nationwide, the responses were often swift when it came to blocking streets not designated as part of a "protest route", with the "Gray Gooses" brought in to haul people away.
Sounds familiar.
