The demonstrations, whose main group is the “Freedom Convoy” located in downtown Ottawa, also obstruct the flow in the nation’s capital, forcing the city’s mayor, Jim Watson, to declare a state of emergency here. .
The blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor (Ontario), which connects Canada and the United States through Detroit, has been in place since Monday, prompting authorities and local police to request provincial and federal aid, reported CTV News.
Around 8,000 trucks a day routinely circulate through the Ambassador, about 25 percent of all cross-border trade, or the equivalent of about $500 million a day.
Due to parts shortages caused by the border gridlock, General Motors canceled two shifts at a plant in Lansing, capital of the US state of Michigan.
Ford said late on Wednesday that it was forced to close its engine plant in Windsor and start up an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, with reduced hours.
Meanwhile, the Ottawa police announced on Twitter this Thursday that they were able to “negotiate for a dozen more trucks to come out” of a plugged area in the capital.
“I want to be clear, those who participate in the convoy are harming Canadians,” warned the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, the day before, who considered that these people “pose a serious danger to the economy and are breaking the law, and no one is above the law.”
Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed has proposed including a study in parliament on the rise of extremism which, if passed, will investigate the influence of foreign and domestic actors who finance and support violent ideologies in Canada.
The protests in the northern country motivated citizens from other latitudes to oppose the health mandates.
According to press reports, dozens of trucks and vehicles left the south of France to head to Paris, the capital, where they would vent their anger over vaccination policies.
Similar actions took place in New Zealand, Australia and the United States, as far-right and anti-vaccine groups around the world amplified the message of Canadian protesters on social media and raised millions of dollars in online campaigns.
An Abacus Data poll on February 3 showed that those most identified with the protest are the voters of the far-right Popular Party, which defends anti-immigrant positions, is a refuge for those who reject vaccines and demand the right to carry firearms. .
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